BP Gulf Spill : Blame Ourselves

I am completely annoyed with the anti-BP rhetoric surrounding the Gulf disaster that is unfolding: it is yet another case of redirection and avoidance of discussing a difficult truth. How can ANY OF US complain about what happens in the Gulf when WE ALL create the *demand* that drives further oil production and the risks associated with it?

Are we all going to give up driving in order to mount a meaningful protest; not just switching from BP / British Petroleum to another brand, but a protest against using ANY oil? Of course not. Nor are we going to quit eating food (since most of our food is cultivated with mass application of petroleum-based fertilizers and herbicides/pesticides -- products which were ALREADY creating "dead zones" in the Gulf and elsewhere before this recent catastrophe; products many of us continue to use on our lawns every year too).

I have seen comments about BP on the Internet like: “how can anyone that works for BP live with themselves?” I have to ask: how can any of us that continue to consume oil live with ourselves after what has happened? Are we as ignorant as to think that our “brand” of oil or gasoline is immune to disaster? How quickly we forget that Exxon went through a similar disaster in Alaska over a decade ago. And, all those much smaller spills, leaks, accidents and so forth that have taken place for decades by nearly every oil company in the world… are they “OK” or otherwise acceptable just because when taken individually they seem "small enough"? And, as an FYI: the “brand” of petroleum products we consume has almost nothing to do with what company pumped the oil from the ground and/or refined the oil into gasoline, diesel, and other products we are all consuming.

I am disgusted with the mess in the Gulf just like everyone else, but I find myself more disgusted with the fact that we each do not accept our ultimate responsibility for creating the demand for the product that is now leaking out of the Sea bed in the Gulf. I am at fault - I enjoy the benefits of gasoline, heat-oil, and affordable food - I increase demand for oil. I walk when possible, but I will still consume oil and increase the risk of future disasters like the Gulf. I am sorry. I hope some mass move to solar and wind power saves me from myself (and everyone else from themselves).

In the meantime, I sure hope that BP is successful at stopping the Gulf oil leak sooner rather than later. We are all so used to instant gratification in our lives that we assume most anything has an instant solution : fact is, this problem is not so simple to solve. The talk on the news makes it like British Petroleum is not trying to fix the problem ASAP : to me, such talk is absurd... BP has every single reason to stop the leak (especially financially), and no reasons to extend this disaster.

I am convinced that the public's frustration with BP's inability to product a quick fix has everything to do with the fact that we all do not want to admit that this is a problem we all contributed to (and continue to contribute to through our consumption of oil), and we know that the longer the problem continues the more it could threaten our ability to continue burning petroleum products as conveniently as we do now. As terrible and scary as the Gulf oil disaster is, for those of us that do not have oil washing up on our property or threatening our businesses, it is the fear that continued difficulties in the Gulf with lead to a fundamental change in our way of lives - like forcing a conversion to truly clean energy - that is even worse for us to think about. Why? Because we are so well conditioned to think this way that even after a disaster of this magnitude we cannot accept that we need to accept and implement large-scale change in our energy ideals.