Gulf Oil Spill: I'm Responsible, Too
By Richard Philpot
The images are shocking. Oil-soaked pelicans desperately trying to raise their wings to fly, but unable. All that’s left is death. A dolphin surfaces for air and instead sucks slimy crude into its lungs. Another death. I can’t believe I’ve played a part in killing these innocent creatures.
Sure. BP deserves a big chunk of the blame. So, too, do BP’s offshore drilling partners, Haliburton and TransOcean. And the Obama administration and the Bush/Cheney administration before them. And the Harper and Campbell governments. They’re on the hook for even considering the Enbridge pipeline from the Alberta tar sands to the BC coast. But in the end, I’m the one who must shoulder the largest piece of blame.
Almost everything we buy, needed or not, is stained with oil. Oil from Petro Canada, Shell, Chevron and others. And, of course, from BP.
Think you and I aren’t to blame? Take a look at the photograph above, of Pender Island Recycling Depot staff member Michelle Marsden standing atop a pile of recycling – 11, 778 pieces in total, all destined to be made into something new, or burned to capture its inherent energy. Almost 12,000 pieces, mostly packaging, saved from the landfill. We should feel pretty good, shouldn’t we?
Let’s take a closer look, starting with a little background on the photograph.
On May 29, my recycling depot co-workers, Michelle Marsden and Les Quitzau, and I agreed to gather all of one day’s recycling into one BIG pile – five hours’ worth of dropped-off paper, cardboard and glass bottles, aluminum and tin cans, plastic containers and bags, scrap metal, appliances and electronics, all delivered by community members of Pender Island to the recycling depot. The pile grew, and it grew. At 3:00pm, we closed the front gate and started our tallying. Ninety-nine depot patrons, an average day’s number, had brought us an average day’s volume of recycling that, when counted, would total 11,778 pieces. Peter Kearvell was the last person to arrive at the depot that day. I asked him how long he thought it had taken us to build a pile of recycling this size. He hummed a moment, then replied, “two weeks?”
So what’s the point of this story? And why should we, on the tiny Gulf Islands, blame ourselves for the disaster and death still unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico? The point of this story is to remind us of the error of our ways.
We are all to blame for the death of the pelicans and dolphins, and thousands of other species in the Gulf, because of our insatiable appetite for BP’s product – oil.
Each one of those 11,778 pieces of recycling was touched by oil, repeatedly. Oil was used to fuel the manufacturing equipment, and then to transport it to the Gulf Islands. It was used again when you drove to the store to buy the product, then again to transport it off-island to the second step in the recycling process. And it doesn’t end there. Oil is used or consumed in as many as a dozen steps in a product’s life cycle. And all of this oil is purchased from BP or one of the other oil companies.
Every time we buy something, whether it’s spinach for dinner or a new hi-def TV, we buy more oil from BP. And the more we buy, the more they drill . . . in the Gulf of Mexico, or wherever governments of the world allow. If we buy less, they drill less. There’s no money to be made in finding and refining oil that no one buys. If you and I buy less – less unnecessary packaging and less product from faraway places, we reduce the risk of another catastrophic ocean spill.
Here are some suggestions.
Reuse more of the items that you already own. Repair or refurbish things that still have life left in them, even if a repair is a bit more expense that buying a replacement. Refuse to buy products that are over packaged. Give the packaging back to the retailer and, before long, they’ll be asking the manufacturer to package their product differently. Shop local, local, local – farm stands, farmers markets, your own garden. Walk and bike more, drive less. Car pool. Each gas-driven trip could have several purposes. Offer to pick up milk and bread for a neighbour. Walk on to a ferry and use public transit on the other side.
And, keep recycling. If you don’t, please start.
Our individual efforts add up . . . big or small, they all help. Dolphins drowning in oil should help us remember to think before we choose.
