Born to Bead – Making Beads of Distinction

The last few weeks regarding the BP oil spill has been playing on my mind and I simply cannot contain my thoughts any longer.

There are so many factors to consider, on the one hand I want to scream and shake those involved, do they not realise the enormity of this event?!? why have they not invested in the cleanup?!? when will they finally put the world’s future ahead of non renewable resources?!? wtf?!?

I have also toyed with the concept of boycotting BP and using Shell but really where does that leave us? Following the events as they unfold on CNN and in the press, debating the event at friends and family gatherings I have realised the Devil’s advocate will be the demise of us all when we cannot place environment above consumerism of energy.

First we have to consider the lack of action perceived in the media regarding the clean up. You would expect that BP would be out there pushing their $10billion into the cleanup instead of promising shareholders a pay out. I get that they are donating the net proceeds from the well to the cleanup, what does net proceeds actually mean to all of us? can they outline what will be paid from this oil before the left overs are given to the environmental impact. In other words will the shareholders still get paid the $10billion, will the executives still earn their quarter million each year, and then only what’s left over will be donated. And so I’m hearing this correctly does that mean that only 1% of BP’s annual income earned will be donated (again I love the use of this word) to the cleanup. While this appears at face value to be wonderful it is also linked to profits and the thought that we still need to suck this chamber dry.

Is the lesson not to move away from energy sources that have such a profound negative effect on life on earth. When was the last time you heard that crude oil floating in our oceans was a positive thing yet we have it happen at least once every 5 years somewhere in the world. You also expect that they would above all else be sheepish and at least remorseful in their responses, yet their speeches and apologies seem somewhat corporate, scripted and devised in a boardroom to minimise legal fall out and has no real heartfelt meaning for those who are watching the real cost float up on the shores. 

But then you have to consider what we are expecting, we are expecting them to make the environmental clean up a top priority, when you consider it, that’s exactly what they are doing. They are effectively putting their every resource into stopping or capturing the flow, is the halt of flow not everyone top priority?  Surely BP is taking one for the team. What if it was Shell who drilled on the edge of human ability with no real understanding of the pressures involved in the drilling of such a massive chamber. Surely the whole oil industry will learn from this event much the same way the world only understood the enormity of the A-Bomb once America dropped one.

According to CNN one company has dedicated two of their top engineers, some countries are loaning the US their floating rings etc but really shouldn’t we be expecting that all oil companies are actively taking responsibility? I see that Shell has no mention of this event on their website well certainly not on their homepage or environmental page, instead they’re lapping up the demise of BP and hoping to promote their own wonderful story of environmentally sustainable raping of the planets wells. Why is Shell not there alongside BP as you can be sure they will learn how it’s not to be done at the expense of their competitor when the actual fall out affects everyone. This environmental catastrophe is every one’s business and is no longer in the BP corner of the ring but is in fact going to affect everyone.

There have been thoughts about boycotting BP but then we just buy off another company with the same risks, boardroom note takers and millionaires. What would the effect of that be in any event if BP goes under? Shell buys their resources and bible on what not to do and shareholders profiteer from a fallen horse. In my area alone I know that if we all boycott BP then each garage has a family that goes under as the BP’s of this world are owned and operated by people who contribute, reside in and love our communities as much as we do. It has been suggested that we target oil companies in a definite cycle forcing them to drop their prices and remove their monopoly but really what we need is to divorce ourselves from them.

So where to from here? what will we learn? and again will this environmental impact actually be global? was Europe really affected by the nuclear testing in the Pacific through the French? did they really care? I doubt it even affected them and the loss of life in the Pacific really is out of sight out of mind for many. I would be interested to know if any of the global environmental catastrophes are being included in the history curriculum’s at school, repeated generation after generation least we forget as we do with human catastrophes?

Really I have no answers just thoughts, anger and an overwhelming sadness. I was born of the ocean, have lived on the ocean, have fished from the ocean and have loved the ocean all my life. This event has hurt me to my core, and yet there are no answers? all we can do is pray that the global oil community will see this is in fact all of their concerns, they are all responsible, they all need to take action and they need to speak to us as humans affected not corporates protected, even then it will never regain the loss of life of the Gulf