Oil is cheap. Despite all the taxes that are placed in every single gallon of oil we buy, it is still cheap. But when we factor in both the human and environmental cost of oil, it is not cheap. The oil spill in the Gulf once again reminds us of the cost of our addiction to fossil fuels and the human and environmental cost involved in oil.
What is happening in the United States is not new. It is 梧桐别院
Imagine for a moment if America did not have a strong democracy in which businesses are held accountable for their actions! Imagine if the government of the United States and BP just ignored the people of the Gulf Coast while oil continued to spill! What do you think these people who have lost their environment and livelihoods would do? While no one should support violence or kidnapping in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, the side of the story not often told is the connection between the inhumane acts of the oil companies/government and the militancy in the oil regions. Within the U.S. now, there is a new form of patriotism rising as a result of BP’s actions in the Gulf Coast. The President, in the last few weeks, has been aggressive in resolving this crisis in the American Gulf. BP has agreed to set aside $20 billion in an escrow account to pay claims.
This is just the beginning. BP will spend more money. This has not been the case in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The people have been ignored; some of them are taking their destinies into their hands. The government has failed them. The international commu爱上海爱生活同城论坛
To end militancy, the oil companies and the government must clean the waters, pay significant damages to families living in the Niger Delta region, provide jobs to residents or train them for new occupations, and provide basic civil rights such as electricity, good roads, hospitals, and schools. They must embrace a new culture, not only of environmental responsibility, but social responsibility.
Some of the media has done a good job highlighting the effect of the spill. How long before another story moves to the top of the headlines and newscasts? The consequences of this environmental disaster could span decades. It will take the voices of many concerned citizens of the world to keep this issue in the forefront of our collective global conscious. Media around the world should report on the many narrative layers of oil disasters. Peeling back those layers will be an opportunity to educate this generation on the dangers of our world’s addiction to oil. Hopefully, peeling back the layers will lead to a global clean energy revolution.
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Tsunami Prep, Hawaii: "Vertical Evacuation"
At literally the eleventh hour, a.m. Hawaii time, a 12-foot tsunami generated by the massive 8.8 magnitude Chilean earthquake is predicted to strike our seven inhabited isles. First landfall: the Big Island, where 61 people died in 1960 when a tsunami took out Hilo after a magnitude 9.6 Chilean tremblor. Last September, after the devastating Samoan quake, Hawaii harbors and beaches experienced a 2-foot surge that grounded a few boats after a tsunami warning was downgraded to an advisory. No one drowned, even though the surge washed over the breakwater at Waikiki, where small children and non-swimmers sport in normally shallow waters.
This time it’s a full-on warning, and residents of low-lying coastal zones are supposed to leave, except for tourists in high-rise hotels. For tourists, there is “vertical evacuation,” a term I’ve never heard before. It means that guests shouldn’t leave their hotels. Instead, they should go above the third floor, where, they are told, they will be safe.
“If coastal areas are evacuated, visitors in Waikiki would be moved to higher floors in their hotels, rather than moved out of the tourist district, which could cause gridlock,” reports the AP.
Meanwhile, island residents have been driving around like crazy since before dawn, topping off their gas tanks and shopping for 上海419休闲娱乐网
With memories of the South Asian tsunami’s devastation forever fresh, why are visitors being told not to leave their hotels? It’s simple: It’s bad for tourism if Hawaii and its hotels appear unsafe or even uncomfortable in any way. When it comes to rainy weather, pollution or impending disaster, in these islands whose number one industry is tourism, no news is good news. That’s why no warning signs were posted on Waikiki beaches until six days after millions of gallons of raw sewage from a broken main darkened normally turquoise waters in 2006. Even then, beaches weren’t closed. And in contrast with media in Mainland cities, which posts daily air quality reports indicating when smog and soot reach unhealthy levels, it’s a rare occasion when Hawaiin media issues warnings about vog — or volcanic smog — which regularly thickens Oahu, Maui and Big Island air with lung-damaging sulfur dioxide and particulate matter.
Apparently the visitor industry won’t tolerate vacancy rates rising, even for a day.
Indeed, the print issue of today’s Star-Bulletin places the tsunami advisory on page 5, while the front page displays the headline, “Tourists Returning.”
We live near Waikiki, on the lower slope of Diamond Head, two short blocks from the sea. The warning sirens went off at 6 a.m., and they’re going off again now, although much more faintly than the first-of-the-month test blasts. (According to the T.V. news, the Waikiki siren is down. Hmmm….) Soon I have to head for the hills. The fire trucks are circu上海新419
But are we in the evacuation zone? We’re in the upper neighborhood, on the mountainside, or mauka, of Diamond Head Road. The warning trucks are sticking to the road itself, or makai of it. In the Internet and mobile age, television news says look in our phone books for tsunami evacuation zone maps. Uh-oh, good green citizen, did you already recycle yours? Tsk-tsk, you’re supposed to keep the new ones. KHON, the NBC affiliate, suggests looking at their website, but provides no URL. All the government evacuation websites have crashed.
Our phone book map says we’re okay where we are. Still, “Water’s very fluid, so you never know,” as cute weather forecaster Justin Fujioka says.
So we’re about to head for the hills, literally, hiking up Diamond Head behind and above our house.
Before I set forth, GreenerPenny has to provide a note on how we are disaster prepping green:
- We walk, don’t drive, out of the evacuation zone. After all, we’re lucky… We were alerted as soon as the Chilean quake struck, 15 hours before any tsunami could reach Hawaii.
- We’re filling bottles with tap water to take with us.
Already shoppers have congested the aisles of Safeway and Costco. I took out and filled my lightweight stainless steel bottles. One of them has a built-in filter, which is cool. But in a disaster, any clean bottle you can refill will do. Forget about the hormone-disrupting plastic chemical bisphenol-A, just for a day! I can’t believe I said that.
So we’re off. Will keep you posted.
Man Screams As Crocodiles Thrash In Florida Everglades (VIDEO)
“You’爱上海419
The two rowed just close enough to the giant reptiles, which began to thrash wildly in the murky swa爱上海同城对对碰
Watch the video above.
Perhaps the men had heard about the recent infestation of Nile crocodiles in South Florida — a species of croc that can “jump higher, run faster, and grow to nearly 20-feet, several feet larger than its American cousin, and has a nastier temperament.”
But more than likely, the two adventurous friends encountered a cluster of American crocodiles, which are native to the Florida Everglades, and were more likely spooked by the canoe and photographers than lashing out.
Joe Wasilewski, a reptile expert and veteran wrangler, said the American croc “is a gentle animal, believe it or not. … They’re more fish eaters. They don’t consider humans a prey source.”
Greenwashing? Planet 100's Top 5 Eco Contradictions (VIDEO)
On this week’s Planet 100, Sarah Backhouse takes on eco-contradictions — examples of when companies or people make efforts to “green” unsustainable practices or products. Planet 100 includes McDonald’s, eco-barbie, clean coal an上海千花网论坛
WATCH: