But that in its self now presents a massive problem. With the world environment, both political and natural, being in its current state we must secure adequate supplies of oil to support research into alternatives. We are past the tipping point on many issues. The national security of many of the world's nations are in jeopardy due to the location of resources. As a nation the US uses too much oil from unreliable or unfriendly sources. We must fin a way to safely recover as much of our own oil and still work towards the ultimate goal of weaning ourselves off of this dangerous addiction. The scariest part of this dilemma is that we must decide who we can trust. There are too many people who are willing to demonize a whole industry to achieve there goals. Where I have an issue with such ways of thinking is that there is a lot of talk but no real planning for real solutions. Wishing and hoping are not what I would call reliable plans for success. Wishing something away usually doesn't work.
So now with another environmental disaster currently occurring, it is time to take stock of ourselves and how this is going to affect the entire nation. We know that there were failure up and down the ladder. From the management of the oil rig to the government regulator, too many people were asleep at the wheel. It seems that human error, arrogance, and greed may have cost eleven people their lives and untold dollars. The full scope will not be known for a while. But it is shaping up to be the most costly oil spill in history.
In the following video Robert Dudley provides an update to the efforts of his company. One question dealt with the publics faith in off-shore drilling. After such a huge failure of government and industry, it is hard to trust anyone. The problem with such distrust is that it fails to take in the reality of our dependence. It is true that a repeat of a spill of this magnitude is totally unacceptable, but the alternatives to not having fuel supplies is also bleak. Without petroleum based fertilizer food production could plummet, transportation of resources could become prohibited, and the standard of living will decline. Hunger worldwide will cause even greater political instability. We are just too dependent on oil.
So what is the answer? I'm afraid it is not simple. We need leadership. We need a consensus builder who will bring people together. But I don't see any from the leaders in Washington. I see petty politics and leaders more interested in dividing the American people into small, more easily controllable groups. Our leaders seem to only care about this issue when they discovered that they could not use it against their opposition and that it put themselves in political danger.
The current energy policy seems to be built on more illusion then fact. To create any type of plan there must be something that is in short supply, trust. We must find a way to trust our leadership to do the right things. We must find people who will police the oil drilling rigs. We must find people who can create alternative fuels. We must allow those with the knowledge of the current system, run it as cleanly and as efficient as possible, without asking the impossible. These things must be done. But it may be too late. Without building this trust we could be dooming ourselves and future generations to disease, hunger, and global warfare.
©2010 Pedro Sykes - Some Rights Reserved
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