Jun/01
2010
2010
As much as I disagree with Obama and his administration on anything - this oil spill is no more their fault than any of the other previous 8 administrations - circumstances arose, the moons aligned and it happened under their watch. As technology moves forward and new ground is broken these things are going to happen just as they've happened in decades past. Anyone remember Union Carbide and the Bhopal disaster back in the early 80's? The chemical leak killed something like 4000 people and injured over 50,000 people. How about Chernobyl in the mid 80s? That killed thousands over the following decades and ruined that entire area for the next 1000 years. How about the Love Canal up near Niagara Falls?
Let's face it, Mother Nature has doled out natural disasters upon epic proportions MUCH larger than any man-made disaster like what is happening right now in the Gulf all by herself since the beginning of time. Regional floods, millions upon millions of acres on fire from lightning, famines, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions. Yes, 10's of thousands of lives have been lost over time, millions of animals and small wildlife have been lost too - the list goes on and on.
These types of things are going to happen as we progress. They will eventually get the leak stopped and the recovery will begin. Mother Nature is a big girl and the Gulf region will recover. It might take a decade or two, but it will happen. Afterall, no matter how bad this leak/disaster seems, the environment has and will continue to produce events far worse than this on an order of magnitude, history has proven it time and time again and the future will be no different - just give her time. Meanwhile the man-made disasters will continue to happen as we progress.
There are a dozen or so companies in the same boat as BP drilling deeeeep in the same manner. This is an unprecedented event that not even the best scientists could anticipate.
5 comments
Comment from: Assedo [Visitor]
I can not speak about Bhopal or Chernobyl, but I can speak knowledgeably about Love Canal. I could give enough details to bore the average person, but I won't. The BP oil leak is a far bigger disaster than Love Canal. Love Canal still has it's environmental issues and the impacts to human health may never be fully understood. However, the Love Canal legacy was the catalyst for many environmental laws. Those laws were intended to prevent such a thing from happening again. They also kicked the enough shit out of Occidental Chemical (the processor to Hooker) to make them behave and be good corporate citizens. Hopefully this spill can be a catalyst for better oversight systems for offshore drilling and a big enough punishment is meted out to BP to make any other oil companies think twice about doing something stupid.
06/01/10 @ 20:43
Comment from: Roulette [Member] 
You really want to go down that path? Protecting BP from gross negligence? Tough road to haul. More power to you.
But please, consider carefully your argument. Yes, there have been worse natural disasters in the past. All life on the planet has been nearly destroyed on several occasions. Huge gaping cracks in the crust, giant asteroids and fuck all giant ice ages. And life survived.
There have been any number of smaller natural disasters. Volcanoes, mini ice ages, and hurricanes to shake the foundations of a region.
The key here is the word natural disasters. This isn't. And even if it was, human involvement constrains the ability of natural processes to deal with it by starting nature off with 2 strikes. Maybe in a natural paradise, nature could recover. With the population and environmental limitations we impose, this could be a knock out blow to a lot of animals and plants.
With the earth survive BP's incompetence and greed? Sure. It shouldn't have to.
As for your final sentence.... go fuck yourself. I'm not even a huge environmentalist and I can tell you that this was entirely anticipated by the opponent of deep sea drilling. They screamed for years that the fail safe plans were inadequate. But the price of oil went up, regulation went down, and the wells were dug. Not anticipated? You're fucking smarter than that. Act like it.
But please, consider carefully your argument. Yes, there have been worse natural disasters in the past. All life on the planet has been nearly destroyed on several occasions. Huge gaping cracks in the crust, giant asteroids and fuck all giant ice ages. And life survived.
There have been any number of smaller natural disasters. Volcanoes, mini ice ages, and hurricanes to shake the foundations of a region.
The key here is the word natural disasters. This isn't. And even if it was, human involvement constrains the ability of natural processes to deal with it by starting nature off with 2 strikes. Maybe in a natural paradise, nature could recover. With the population and environmental limitations we impose, this could be a knock out blow to a lot of animals and plants.
With the earth survive BP's incompetence and greed? Sure. It shouldn't have to.
As for your final sentence.... go fuck yourself. I'm not even a huge environmentalist and I can tell you that this was entirely anticipated by the opponent of deep sea drilling. They screamed for years that the fail safe plans were inadequate. But the price of oil went up, regulation went down, and the wells were dug. Not anticipated? You're fucking smarter than that. Act like it.
06/01/10 @ 20:51
Comment from: bman [Member]
Rou, rou, rou.. where did I give BP a pass? Where did I say they should be protected from negligence? I didn't.
My entire first paragraph I mention a few other man-made disasters - yet you chose to capitalize on the Natural Disasters portion. This is the fundamental problem with productive debate - one must read and understand the context in which it was written.
I'm not giving BP a pass. I'm not agreeing with anything BP has or hasn't done. I'm simply stating reality, whether any of us like it or not, it is the hand of cards dealt to us. This time it's BP's turn to take the heat. The next man-made disaster will have it's own players, storyline and script, rinse and repeat - as history always does.
These kinds of things can and will happen as technology moves forward. The law of averages rules here even with the strictest regulations and oversight.
My entire first paragraph I mention a few other man-made disasters - yet you chose to capitalize on the Natural Disasters portion. This is the fundamental problem with productive debate - one must read and understand the context in which it was written.
I'm not giving BP a pass. I'm not agreeing with anything BP has or hasn't done. I'm simply stating reality, whether any of us like it or not, it is the hand of cards dealt to us. This time it's BP's turn to take the heat. The next man-made disaster will have it's own players, storyline and script, rinse and repeat - as history always does.
These kinds of things can and will happen as technology moves forward. The law of averages rules here even with the strictest regulations and oversight.
06/02/10 @ 08:50
Comment from: Roulette [Member]
you're entire last paragraph comes off as apologist crap. And you have an entire paragraph devoted to nature's ability to recover from natural disasters.
These things happen? Seriously, what are you going for there? Shit happens, suck it up?
Umm.. no. I think heaping huge fucking piles of blame on the people responsible is the right path forward. And I'll probably follow that up with massive amounts of safety restrictions and inspections.
Yes it happened. The proper response isn't "gotta break some eggs to make an omelet". WTF
These things happen? Seriously, what are you going for there? Shit happens, suck it up?
Umm.. no. I think heaping huge fucking piles of blame on the people responsible is the right path forward. And I'll probably follow that up with massive amounts of safety restrictions and inspections.
Yes it happened. The proper response isn't "gotta break some eggs to make an omelet". WTF
06/02/10 @ 18:01
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