Sarah Palin and BP

Sarah Palin blames me for the oil spill that is currently devastating the Gulf of Mexico. Extreme environmentalists like myself it seems are to blame for BP's lack of planning and ultimate failure to understand the consequences of drilling miles under the ocean floor and for not planning for the worst case scenario which has ultimately come to pass. Although not for the reasons that she espouses it pains me to say this but she might just be partially correct! In her limited mind we made them do it by protecting ANWR and other environmentally sensitive areas of our country. In my mind we let them do it to satisfy our unsustainable life styles that produce throw away crap made from oil and to continue to burn fossil fuels at a rate that is consuming our planet faster than we ever thought possible.

Vast areas of our oceans are covered in plastic. The Gulf of Mexico has a large dead zone where nothing can survive in a good year. Now that it is fowled in oil it is likely that millions of plants and animals will perish. The Gulf of Mexico will not recover in my life time or my daughters life time and it is likely that this spill will doom entire species. Man made disasters are everywhere and our failure to reduce fossil fuel consumption and green house gases is at the heart of many of them.

American complacency and pure all out avarice has led to our energy consumption dwarfing all other nations. We're not talking energy needs we're talking wasting gas and oil on a colossal scale. Our lack of insistence on environmentally sound sources of energy in favor of the old "drill baby drill" mentality as well as mountain top removal coal mining has fueled an environment where the Dick Cheney's and Sarah Palin's of the world control the dialog through fear of an enemy created by our dependence on dirty sources of energy. Let's face it for these people it's all about money and power and they could care less about the future of the United States of America. While they claim to be super patriots they continuously take positions that benefit corporations and their wealthy buddies over the interests of the people and the country.

It's time we woke up, rise up and demand alternative sources of energy but it is also time to reduce our energy consumption through an old fashioned conservation program of enormous magnitude. Perhaps it's time to stop spending huge sums of money on building roads we don't need for cars we shouldn't be driving and install energy efficient windows or help businesses to reduce their energy consumption, or support solar initiatives, maybe it's time we all just tried harder to not be such pigs in our lives. Imagine what is possible and ask yourself this simple question. Am I doing my part to save the planet or am I just pretending to make myself feel better?

The first step in saving this planet is to become informed. Joining an environmental organization is a good place to start so I encourage you all to sign up for Greenpeace or the Natural Resources Defense Council or any of the many fine groups that do the day to day hard work of saving the world from itself.

Step two is simple. Reduce, reduce, reduce!

Step three is DO SOMETHING FOR THE EARTH today and everyday.

Lets put the Sarah Palins and the BP's out of business. It's time for a new and bold future. It's time to let go of the old ideas and for America to become the alternative energy capital of the world.

Do we really want to continue to support companies like BP? Now is our time!