The Deep Water Horizon Oil Disaster

The winter of 2009 I worked with the Coalition to Restore Costal Louisiana to plant mangroves on a small island in Venice, Louisiana. I believe it was a man-made island that was created by diverting the sediment water from the Mississippi River. It was probably about 2000 ft. long by 1000 ft. wide. Anyway, we were transported to the newfound strip of land by airboat. We spent 3 days going back and forth from the launch to the island transporting the young seedlings. The following 4 days where spent planting these young plants on the mosquito laden island. After a lot of work we where finally we were done! Months past and it was now April 2010 when the Deep Water Horizon oil disaster happened. The oil spill wrecked havoc on that small island. The plants where just starting to flourish and now they where hit with massive amounts of crude oil and dispersants.

You can image my frustration when I went to visit the same island, in July of 2010, and saw all of our hard work gone. The majority of the plants were dead. The few that where still alive had bent over with all the weight of the heavy crude oil clinging onto them. All of our exhausting work was in vain. This is the oil industry’s dark side.

The Petroleum industry doesn’t have many mishaps, but when they do happen you better watch out. Oil industry accidents are usually lethal and long lasting. For example the Exxon Valdez Oil spill, even after 25 years, the effects from the spill can still be seen. These sporadic accidents are what cause environmentalists to believe that the Petroleum Industry is a major threat to ecological health. They believe that until we cease production the oil industry will continue to be the leader in environmental damage. However, the oil...

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...oney as we had hoped. In 2010, the five major oil giants spent less than 1.2 percent of profits on alternative fuel research and development. When asked about this huge difference in funds alternative energy seems to receive, the oil industry quickly retorts that their business will be dominated by fossil fuels for the foreseeable future.

At least the oil industry is consistent. It’s the corporations such as Green Peace and the World Wildlife Fund that are solely functioning on the naivety of their donators. They have found that as long as doom and gloom are popularized that the money will keep flowing. Many non-profit corporations use this method to increase funding. The question that comes from this operating principle is: does the Earth even significantly benefit from the green organizations? Are they operating of a charity when they are in reality a business?