Earth

Honestly, I don’t normally go out of my way to be green. I don’t recycle. I don’t use fluorescent light bulbs. I definitely just use the plastic grocery bags provided at the store and don’t plan on riding my bike anywhere as long as I have a functioning vehicle. I believe it is of the utmost importance to take care of our Earth, yet my actions do not match that belief. I am not proud to say that, yet I am not afraid to either. I don’t feel I do anything overly harmful to our planet, but I would like to change to become more conscientious of the impact I have on the world I live in. I would like to be more “green.” There is such a variation in attitudes concerning this subject and I think it’s about time everyone moved to the same page. And even though I am not some crazed environmentalist that constantly frets over the state of the world’s ecosystem, I am a concerned citizen.

This blog entry is prompted by the recent oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico. I am legitimately saddened by this ongoing situation. Not only that, but I am disappointed in the way all of the companies and officials involved didn’t care enough to prepare and have reacted to such an occurrence. I was reading the paper one morning last week, specifically an article about the oil spill. This article stated that two years ago there was a change in the contract for the oil companies which did not require them to have a plan of action in case of an emergency exactly like the one that continues to unfold today. I think that’s ridiculous. Who would ever think it was okay to not have a plan for a catastrophe of such magnitude? It’s just stupid to assume something like this would never happen, as unlikely as it may have seemed. Because it’s not like we’re talking about a little accident that can be cleaned up and forgotten here. An entire ocean is being affected. Over two hundred thousand gallons of crude oil is being released each day, and it’s been weeks since this began. Various attempts to stop the leak have failed. Were there not signs of an impending problem this serious and no one bothered to report them? If so, that’s shameful.

The impacts of this explosion are tragic and could have possibly been avoided. The ocean is not just some insignificant body of water. Incredible amounts of species call the ocean and its’ surrounding area home. It is our responsibility to preserve the home of these species and we have failed. Sea animals and sea life are struggling and dying because some of us are too ignorant to realize our dependence on their home. Thousands of humans, including fisherman, rely on the ocean for their livelihood. The entire gulf coast relies on the ocean because of tourism and the amount of money that puts into their local economy. Businesses and restaurants from everywhere depend on the sea food imported to them from the affected area. A delicate balance has been upset. If we do not treat our resources with the respect they deserve, they do not provide for us.

I think this incident is a huge eye opener for oil companies and regular citizens alike. Our Earth is not just something to be used for our own benefit. There are consequences to our actions. Resources are available to provide for the inhabitants of the world, not to be taken advantage of as dispensable and not deserving of care. This is the only home we’ve got. And it is necessary that we make it last. Incidents like this one cannot keep happening if we hope to make that statement come true. We have to take care of our precious planet. So, starting small or starting big, it doesn’t really matter. It just matters that we all start.