Current Events

Ok. So. I try, as naive as it may be, to stay away from reading or watching the news. I know most of you will agree with me when I say it is always bad news and very hard to see or hear. So, after years of staying in tune with the world, (yes, I know, after even more years of living the blissful life of total ignorance, LOL) I have been trying to avoid being aware of what's happening. I am just too sensitive to have all the sadness of the world broadcast to me daily or, even hourly.

Alas, having children in school & a husband who is very passionate about the environment, I have had to lift the wool, just a tiny bit, in order to peek at the circumstances surrounding the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Oh. My. Gosh. Again, I know most of you will agree with me that this is an absolutely horrendous disaster. We can see pictures all over the Internet, & on television screens, of the oil sodden pelicans & other wildlife; we can see live & 24 hours a day the gushing oil; we can see from satellite pictures or just regular video coverage the vast area of our ocean that the oil is gushing into. We can also hear & see and read about who needs to take responsibility and who needs to be blamed; we hear that B.P. must cover the expenses, we hear that our current administration isn't DOING enough & certainly not fast enough. See, this oil spill clearly exhibits, right here and right now, how it is damaging our ocean, ocean life, marsh life, fishing & shrimping companies, & of course us. Oil is, after all, toxic to humans. Anyone directly helping in the cleanup efforts will be exposed to this toxin in one way or another, despite all the protective gear and training they will have had. Duh. Accidents happen. Ah-hem.

I am wondering, why do we all have our panties in a wad about this oil spill? I've been watching the news coverage via CSPAN & CNN and listening to it on NPR. Today, on CSPAN, I watched this:

http://www.cspanarchives.org/program/ID/225677&start=0&end=2681

I can't direct you to exactly when in the interview, John Hofmeister, the ex-President of Shell Oil, said the things I'm going to refer to, but I just wanted to make sure you had the link to hear the interview for yourselves. When my husband came home from work, I was trying to explain to him how I agree with John Hofmeister, re: his comments on how the oil gush in the gulf is not much worse than the ways humans have already polluted the earth, & certainly not as debilitating as wars & natural disasters of our past & present. Not to say that this oil spill is not absolutely horrendous, but really, it & all the pictures of oiled animals are just a much more obvious example of how we are killing animals, nature & ourselves each day. My husband wanted to argue this point with me, but I wouldn't hear it. Later, he happened upon this article, on purpose or intentionally I don't know yet, & posted it on my Facebook wall. It's a long read, but eye-opening.

Water Pollution : Men's Health

We have GOT to stop using plastics!!!!!! It's not just a "granola" or "hippie" lifestyle, it needs to happen or we won't be around much longer!

And just in case you didn't know, plastics are petroleum, i.e., OIL based. We, the people, have created our own dependence on oil and now, when the oil companies are trying to give us what we want, and locally at that, now that President Obama is trying to help us get out of a bad situation, depending on foreign oil, now we all have our panties in a wad & are blaming all the powers that be. People, it's our fault. It's YOUR fault. It's MY fault. It's our Grandparent's fault. It's the fault of wanting more, wanting progress, wanting convenience, wanting it all right now, right here, exactly how we want it! We live in the United States of Burger King! We are an insatiable people, in general, and somewhere along the line we were told that not only could we have it all, but that we simply deserved it all. And so it is. And here we are. So, if we deserved it all, then we certainly shouldn't be blaming the ones that gave us what we asked for! What we could be doing is climbing on board with Al Gore, President Obama, etc., etc., and doing our gosh golly darnedest to learn how to live greener, & to practice it daily, hourly, so that we, over time, can truly have it all, having earned it clean & green, deserving it because we WORKED for it! Last but by no means least, I hope we live to see that day & I hope we have healthy children & grandchildren.

My baby step: Limiting the use of plastic in our home and lives. What's your first step?