Nobody To Blame But Ourselves

As we contemplate and blame BP and our own government for the oil spill disaster in the Gulf, we should also be taking a hard look at ourselves. After all, we Americans consume, on average, around 21 million barrels of oil - every day. That's close to a quarter of the entire world's demand. We also own the most vehicles and drive the most miles, more than every other country on the planet, including China and India.

Feeling helpless during this situation is normal, as most of us can't take time off of work, or simply quit, to travel to the East Coast and try to save that endangered sea turtle or pelican, or the beaches and wetlands that are being destroyed as I write this mostly-egocentric blog.

But you know what? We can help. We can all start making decisions that have an impact our planet and every living being on it and in it. Think about it every time you go to the store or drive to work, take a vacation or even wipe your backside on the toilet. Every decision we make has an impact on the environment we all take for granted.

So the next time we bitch about BP and all the corrupt goings-on of our government, let's take a moment and think about how we are all responsible for this mess. We drive the demand for oil, we drive the demand for the trucks and ships that deliver our food to the store. We drive the demand for the latest iPhone (which saw record sales numbers for Apple in its first day of availability), the Prius, the Hummer, the latest episode of Lost...

Yeah, sure, screw BP and the heartless bastards who could care less about a small bird or a beach they never have to visit. But also, screw us, because we created this situation, and it's up to us to do something about it.