Boycott BP and Save the Ducks!
Monday May 31, 2010
I’
m still horrified by the awful Deepwater Horizon oil spill (also referred to as the BP Oil Spill, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill or the Macondo blowout) in the Gulf of Mexico, but the swell of action to help offset some of its effects has been inspiring. There are Boycott BP campaigns going on around the world, including the US Facebook one, and an Australian one too. After the success of the Boycott Nestle campaign before Easter, when people power forced Nestle to stop using palm oil from areas where its harvesting led to the death of endangered animals, maybe we can all have an impact here too, and force BP to take responsibility and spend their billions not on advertising to protect their name, but in clean up efforts and environmental measures.
I searched to find some practical ways to help with the after-effects of the spill. I adopted a baby duckling through the International Bird Rescue and Research Center (www.ibrrc.org), while other friends have adopted pelicans and other marine life so badly affected by the disaster. Another good organisation helping with the clean up is the Humane Society, an international organisation that protects wildlife (www.hsi.org.au).
The spill stems from a sea floor oil gusher that resulted from a catastrophic explosion and oil well blowout that occured on April 20 – which killed 11 platform workers and injured 17 others, and is still devastating an ever-widening area more than a month later. The gusher is estimated to be spilling 12,000 to 100,000 barrels of oil a day. It’s already being described as the worst environmental disaster in history, with the spill devastating the marine and wildlife habitat of several US states – and spreading – as well as damaging the Gulf of Mexico fishing and tourism industry. And at this stage there is still no end in sight – BP is spending their money on ads to try to improve their reputation, which thankfully is having the opposite effect. Of course we all need to consider our own dependence on petrol – if cleaner fuels are developed (or allowed to be produced), we can start to move away from oil and coal, which would be so wonderful for the environment...
To return to the Blog homepage, click here.
To return to the Main homepage, click here.
The Book of Faery Magic, Seven Sacred Sites and A Magical Journey are available from bookstores across Australia, distributed by Brumby Books, and through this website.
Send Serene an email.
