Yesterday President Obama gave a seemingly victorious speech claiming “the long battle to close the leak and contain the oil is finally close to coming to an end”.
“A vast majority of the spill has been dispersed or removed” but the tone of his speech seems more like a premature victory announcement.
While the 26% estimate of oil still in the ocean may not sound like much, as a percentage, when you look at in terms in actual figures “nearly 53m gallons (200m litres) of oil remain in Gulf waters, which is close to five times the amount of the 11m-gallon Exxon Valdez spill in 1989.” – BBC News
Clean up efforts so far have been a great accomplishment, and words alone cannot commend those who are out there relentlessly cleaning up this mess.
However, we must not let this “victory” distract us from the issues at hand and we must continue questioning A. How did we end up with such a mess in the first place? and B. Is now not the crucial moment to turn away from our dependence on oil and look to a more sustainable “green” energy future!
In my opinion this speech from Obama, though he mentions there is still work to be done, risks turning the largest oil spill in history into yesterdays news at the bottom of the pile, and this is clearly not the case for the millions of people and wildlife affected in and around the Gulf.
WHAT WE CAN DO?
* Keep the pressure on demanding a change in energy policy and a sustainable future!
* View Obama’s speech (partly posted below) and draw your own conclusions on the issue.
* Look at ways in your personal life of how you can cut back on oil.
* Read also my blog posts – Oil Spills – China vs The Gulf and The secrete ingredient in plastic and cosmetics
A section from Obama’s Mission Accomplished Announcement.
FUTURE BLOGS COMING SOON:
* The unseen animal casualties of the Gulf oil spill
* Transition Town Totnes – Free from Oil by 2030!
The Green Info, Inspiration and Action Blog 
Posted by wideeyedbohemian2 on August 5, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Any relationship to Bush’s “mission accomplished” speech here? :)
One factor I am confused about is the use of petroleum for other industries besides transportation, and whether or not scientists are working to find non-petroleum substitutes. Do you have information on this subject?
Anita
Posted by giiablog on August 5, 2010 at 6:20 pm
Petroleum is used in many industries as a main source of energy, along with natural gas and coal. A surprising industry you may not yet have though about is the plastics and cosmetics industry. (for more information see my Blog posting linked to in this post).
I am currently researching alternatives to petroleum in both domestic and industrial settings and a fascinating topic I have recently stumbled upon is that of ‘industrial symbiosis’. I am writing a blog post about this which will be online in the next week or so. If you are interested please subscribe to the GiiA newsletter and I’ll let you know once the blog is online, Well worth the read and highly inspiring! Thank you for your comment!
Posted by generationnext on August 5, 2010 at 8:03 pm
What I’m seeing here is a way for Obama to calm the American public down before they try something reckless and decide to blame him for it all. This “pre-victory” speech is merely an act to keep people from anger and frustration. He’s trying to assure people that everything will be okay so people won’t panic.
However, in my personal opinion, I think it’s best for government to be honest with it’s citizens. Of course, that will also have consequences, as some people tend to do reckless things when they are told the full of a story…..but at the same time, we live here and need knowledge about the situation so that we can improve our society.