Our Children’s Earth

Reflections on the BP Oil Spill

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?