Friday, July 30, 2010

'Toontime: The Oil Is Gone?

[credit: Kevin Siers, Charlotte Observer]
Wackydoodle sez: Ma' tother vehickle's a Harley!

British Petroleum has a new American face and his first job is to "scale back" the clean up efforts in the Gulf now that the oil is disappearing from the surface.  Of course the company's bosses are hoping the disaster will disappear from the minds of Americans too.  Make no mistake, the millions of gallons of crude oil & gas leaked into the sea are still there in less obvious forms: suspended in the water column as tiny droplets, lurking in the cold depths in heavy blankets,  floating as tar balls in remote lagoons and marshes, or ingested by marine life that humans at the top of the food chain eventually consume.  The visible oil may be dissipating, but the effects of the largest oil spill in our history will be with us for generations to come.  The real change so desperately needed is in the behavior of 'ordinary folks' as suggested by the cartoon.  Without increasing demand for petroleum there is no motivation to drill at the limits of technology.  Cultures can change--bravo, Catalonia.