tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741946524740642424.post5061771299754271337..comments2023-03-25T04:54:06.837-07:00Comments on Rev Peter's Environmental Notes: The BP Oil Rig DisasterUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741946524740642424.post-10804668037381723612010-05-25T20:25:28.397-07:002010-05-25T20:25:28.397-07:00I think that there are really no permanent solutio...I think that there are really no permanent solutions for this matter. Pretty alarming since marine life is now in danger and as we all know many depend their everyday lives in the waters and the lives in it. Can we just manage the production that we have and stop asking for more so that no lives will be harmed?dining room tablehttp://www.erikorganic.com/dining-room/dining-room-table.shtmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741946524740642424.post-58323385994859180362010-05-04T01:11:27.695-07:002010-05-04T01:11:27.695-07:00We do need to think now about the way we live and ...We do need to think now about the way we live and the resources we are using. I agree with homerewlibrarian's comment that we should "be the change we wish to see". I do try to practise that but sometimes the global situation all seems just too much. As much as I try to live simply, growing some of our food, reducing car use, buying less etc etc in the whole scheme of things my efforts count for virtually nothing. <br /><br />I try to live simply because I think it is the right thing to do but sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the scale of the problems we are facing. <br /><br />Unfortunately I am not sure that even a disaster on this scale will make the decision makers alter their way of thinking.willowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05818659940895641160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741946524740642424.post-84609234234960065532010-05-03T13:05:07.211-07:002010-05-03T13:05:07.211-07:00Somehow, I don't think the clean up operation ...Somehow, I don't think the clean up operation will be all that great. The clean up from the Exxon Valdez disaster got a portion of the surface oil but a great deal settled to the bottom and is probably now covered in silt. Someone told me that even now on some of those beaches, you need only dig very shallowly in the sand at the waters edge to find a layer of oil.<br /><br />The spill in the Gulf of Mexico is far worse and larger. I have no idea what harm it will do along the hundreds of miles of shoreline to the living creatures and the people who live and make their livelihood there. But, sadly, I expect that it won't be taken that seriously and the ecosystems there will be changed dramatically for the worse for a very long time.<br /><br />It will take more, much more than everyone reducing their driving about. Our world is literally soaked in oil - we wear it, eat it, move from place to place with it, etc. Those who profit off the results of all that oil are not going to willing make reductions that could reduce their profits. They will, as you point out, keep extracting it for as long as they can from less and less useful places and charge more and more for it.<br /><br />For change to come, we need to change ourselves and the sooner the better. If we choose to ignore the signs and portents, we will be forced into convulsive change and that has the potential to be truly disastrous. I know of a number of people facing the change they know must be done with courage and dedication but for every one of them there are 200 (maybe even 2000) who continue to practice retail therapy. <br /><br />I don't have a good answer mostly because each person has to come to the decision to change on their own. For those of us who practice voluntary reductions and simplicity, it may be that we lead by example. Who knows? Our neighbors may suddenly need to make changes and remember that we might be someone to ask about it. We should be gracious and giving whether we're looked on as crazy people or wise ones. But isn't that the second greatest commandment??<br /><br />Kerri in AK (currently in the UK)homebrewlibrarianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10416576263218131568noreply@blogger.com