I want to believe

The news is now calling the Gulf Coast oil spill the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. This has led me down a very negative train of thought, not only about the current disaster, but what will happen in the future, for both the U.S. and world.

I want to believe that this has been the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

However, looking at what we have done already, I think we may have done worse (at least so far). From the deforestation in the early 1900s, to current impacts of sprawl, to water mismanagement in desert areas to pesticide use to greenhouse gasses that are contributing to global warming. I guess we don't count these since they are more intentional? Or maybe because they happen over a long period of time we're used to them...


I want to believe that the oil spill will remain the worst environmental accident in U.S. history.

We will see worse accidents, probably in our lifetime. While it's not inevitable, I think it's likely. We flirt with technology before we know how to control it, the government lets industry progress while the government doesn't have the technology to clean up the mess. We want to bury nuclear waste in mountains that will remain radioactive for years. We want to increase the number of nuclear plants. We want to get oil and coal from environmentally sensitive areas. It's true that our technology prevents disasters from happening on a daily basis (in this country), but the point I'm making is we're human. To err is human, and human error will certainly be behind the next accident. It doesn't matter if it's 99.99% likely that something won't happen. The low risk is outweighed by the magnitude of the potential disaster, since disaster only needs to strike once.

I want to believe that our government change regulation to prevent future disasters.

But I think that public relations firms and lobbyists that represent industry will continue to be the louder voice, and cause the politicians and public to believe them and what they say they're capable of. Industry has billions of dollars to get us to see their side, the environment and people supporting it don't have it, even though the benefits we receive from the environment certainly outweigh those we have gotten from industry.

I want to believe that our government will support our technological future.

I mean several things by this. The government needs to invest in renewable energy progressively. Remember walking on the moon? That was a 10 year goal thought impossible by many. If we seriously invest in renewables and couple it more efficient energy usage, there will not be a need to increase the oil supplies available to us. It seems like every renewable plan I've seen is so far in the future and so small in scope that it never materializes into immediate action. A 20% goal of renewables in 20 years doesn't even compensate for increase in energy use at the current pace. The U.S. government hardly invests in renewables. Worldwide spending on renewables is 38 billion a year (by the way, China invests more in renewable energy than the U.S.). Second, government needs to invest in public transportation with the same vigor it invests in highway and road projects. Part of the reason public transportation is not popular is that in many areas it is still a pain in the butt. Transportation is a huge part of our energy use. Along these same lines, we need tougher energy standards for appliances. High efficiency products often already exist from their development for other countries. They just don't always get to the American consumer. Anyone wonder why that might be?

I want to believe that our government will change regulation to reverse global warming.

I am so skeptical about this. I believe that many politicians realize the threat of global warming but try to balance scientific reasoning with other political concerns. Unfortunately, the environment does not care about political concerns, you really can't half stop global warming. Please listen to science!

I want to believe that ordinary people can affect change.

This is a hard one. I want to affect change, badly. But with the oil spill I think, there's only two types of people that had the power to prevent this disaster: the officials at BP and politicians. Everyone else can yell and scream all they want but we still would have been at the mercy of these people. I am surrounded by people who study the environment and we were powerless without others taking action from our research. And again, we do not have the millions of dollars that lobbyists and public relations firms have to make it sound like what they do is not that bad, or to get everyone else to question whether global warming is actually happening. And, sadly the environment has become a one party issue and is not enough of a priority for most people to vote just for that issue. But we can't live apart from the environment, and so I don't see what we can do other than vote for it. Vote in referendums for tougher regulation, and vote for green politicians. We haven't been paying off our debt, the price we pay the pump is not the true price of oil. The most change I can see most people affecting is their own. That isn't something to scoff at, but we need more.