Our Children’s Earth
Guest Post by M. Nicklin
Tar balls reach Key West. BP Says Tube is Containing One Fifth of the Spill. BP Spill: The Equivalent of One Exxon Valdez Every Four Days. These are just some of the many recent headlines about the oil disaster in the Gulf. I read them daily. And alarmingly, the news is not getting better. It’s filled with pathetic finger pointing (BP-Halliburton-federal regulators) and excuses.
So who is really at fault? I think there’s enough blame to go around — greedy oil companies, greedy politicians, greedy rig owners. But back to my question: who’s at fault? At this stage of the game, it doesn’t reaslly matter. What does matter is a solution. And a fast one at that.
They call it a leak but that’s really a misnomer. It’s actually a massive, gushing environmental disaster. And as a mother, I think about the world we’re leaving for our children. A world where they will be left cleaning up and living with our messes. That’s simply wrong. So, as Washington and the billionaire oil companies continue to talk in circles about who’s to blame and what kind of crazy scheme we can use to plug the mess, I wonder what moms can do.
This Girltalk blog is about the strength of women. So what can we do now to voice our concern and disapproval? What can we do to help ensure that this kind of disaster is not repeated? What can we do to protect the earth our children will inherit?
May 19, 2010 @ 11:15 am
I am overwhelmed and saddened by the environmental impact of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. I am completely outraged by the opportunistic political finger pointing that has overtaken the headlines. There is collective responsibility for this disaster and solutions should be the immediate priority.
As a mother, my most awesome responsibility is the education and awareness I can offer my children. It is critical that our children understand the consequences of oil pollution on our marine environment. They need to learn how oil spills occur and what can be done to prevent them. Children also need to be taught that we depend on our lawmakers to protect our natural resources. Hopefully, we can raise a generation of children who will value our planet, feel a responsibility for their actions, and help find solutions to address environmental threats.
May 25, 2010 @ 9:17 am
I absolutely agree. The earth is a delicate place and we’re hardly good custodians. If there was a landlord were were renting earth from, she would not be happy with us and we’d probably be kicked out.
Mother Earth expects better from us. There are environmental tragedies going on across this planet — but most are below the media radar.
I’d like to think we’d do better in the future.
May 26, 2010 @ 12:53 pm
I think we should inundate President Obama with emails expressing our concern over the spill and the appalling lack of response by the White House. His email address: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact