Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Really??

If you have not heard, Sarah Palin is blaming environmentalist for the oil spill.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/03/sarah-palin-blames-enviro_n_598977.html

This alone is not at all shocking to me. Yes, it is somehow comical and overwhelmingly depressing all at the same time, but not surprising. The hard part for me is all the otherwise intelligent people who do not see any problem with her absurd conclusion.

I guess maybe, if you do not actually stop and think, and you squint your eyes, you could draw a link between the environmental movement and deep water oil drilling. But really? Really?? I am not sure how this could get so confused but environmentalists have not been pushing for oil drilling in places that are dangerous to drill. In fact, environmentalists would hope for little to no oil drilling at all! Is this really news?

The enviro movement officially started with the first Earth Day after the oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara California in 1969. This, in combination with the first oil crisis and signs of climate change in the early 1970s, established a strong anti-oil sentiment in the group. Enviros have since pushed for clean power, reducing our footprint by consuming less and drilling less oil and and and. Well, here's the Daily Kos : "Sarah, maybe you missed the memo, but us ‘extreme greenies’ are opposed to ALL drilling. We are opposed to any energy that ruins our lands and soils our waters. We are for alternative energy, and funding new technologies to replace oil in America.

We all (yes, I am one of them...an environmentalist!) dream that people had actually listened when signs of trouble first started showing up...40 YEARS AGO!!!! Imagine where we could be, the technologies that could have been in place NOW! What happened instead was law suits. Oil companies pushed back when their source of income was threatened and thus...more oil mess!

To end on a positive note: I believe things can be better than this. Humans are smart and we can do things differently and so so so much better! We do not need oil. Yes, our infrastructure was built around it (*sigh*...again, oh how nice if we'd actually started changing 40 years ago) but that doesn't mean we are stuck. There is no doubt that oil is a finite resource. It is messy and creates so many problems from so many points in it's production and usage, why do we continue to be so reliant on it? Please let this latest oil catastrophe be a catalyst for change!!