July 22, 2010
Spill challenges addiction to cars
Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana has now been contaminated by the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While sympathy abounds for the unfortunate residents of New Orleans, who just seem to face one tragedy after another, the blatant fact missed by most folks is that this massive ecologic insult affects not only those geographic areas in close proximity to the Gulf. It is an unparalleled disaster for the Earth as a whole, and the sooner we face up to this, the sooner more realistic and long-term solutions can be reviewed and put into action.
The sea is home to all manner of life forms. Kill the sea and you might as well kill the entire planet. It is hard for most Americans to see that we have allowed our thralldom to technology to alienate us from our sense of kinship with the earth. But what should we have expected when we began to worship Big Oil as the answer to so many of our needs? Could we not have foreseen some kind of disastrous payback after our rapacious long-term plunder of one of the earthÂ’s essential ingredients?
Americans are deeply in love with the automobile. Mention the possibility that we might have to face life without our cars, trucks and SUVs in the next decade or so and you are going to be met with sneering contempt and disbelief. Living without a car is far too radical a thought for most Americans to grasp.
Too radical? Well, a truly radical long-term plan of corrective action is clearly called for here, to eliminate the likelihood of another BP-magnitude disaster like the one currently unfolding in the Gulf. The Earth is not likely to survive another such horrifically crippling insult.
It is appalling that the public emphasis appears to focus largely on blame and financial compensation at this time when American car owners should be thinking in terms of their own responsibility to the country and to the planet. How can we each greatly reduce our dependence on the automobile? Answers have been suggested for years: Greatly increased ride sharing, expansion of public transportation, and bicycles, walking, or even roller skating. These suggestions usually meet with nods of approval by many people, but no measurable changes in lifestyle. Americans remain overwhelmingly addicted to their cars.
ABBY KIRK
Rutland