This one hits home and leads me to what is a simple but telling question- why are we still doing this?

There is a two-mile-long oil slick in San Francisco Bay and the Coast Guard is out there cleaning it up, saying we are in luck because most of it is going to burn off, though they aren’t quite sure how much actually leaked out of the barge.

Am I the only one outraged by the optimism that we should be happy that most of it will burn off? The Coast Guard is doing a great job- don’t get me wrong- but they are out there burning oil and claiming it a victory. And in one sense, it is. In another, more honest sense, it is a major defeat, one that speaks volumes about how much devastation and destruction we are willing to accept in the name of energy.

Let’s think about what happens when a boatload of solar panels spills in the ocean- they all sink to the bottom. Maybe some of the chemicals get released, sure, but are they on fire, releasing toxic fumes into the air? No. They are sitting at the bottom of the ocean where they will slowly rust and do very little else. Same with windmills.

What about nuclear reactors? If they spill, it’s massive destruction and loss of life. Toxic fallout for decades. The ecosystem has to absorb it and start over later.

So when I ask the question: why are we still doing this? What I mean is, why are we still spending money and resources on a form of power that is unsustainable, dirty even when used correctly and brutally destructive when it isn’t used or transported correctly? What give, America? How did we get to this point where we aren’t even fazed by the idea that a bunch of toxic oil first poured out of a barge into the water and second that it is burning off? When did that become not shocking?

They say they still aren’t sure if the accident and ensuing spill were the result of human or mechanical error, but from the perspective of the environment, it doesn’t really matter. Any technical error is still human error. It was a refueling mix up of some sort. Oil ending up burning on the surface of San Francisco Bay is absolutely not a natural thing or a complete accident- it’s part of the price we pay for using oil.

I know it’s not a simple thing, economically or business-wise to just switch from one product to another, if it were, there would be no such thing as branding. I read a lot about brand awareness and brand identification and brand loyalty, and I tell you that the way we relate to the oil industry is exactly the way we relate to a brand- we’re comfortable, we know what it does and we grew up with it. Solar panels? Never seen them- don’t know the brand. They’re weird- they’re new- they’re change.

A change we better start embracing, because spilling sunlight doesn’t hurt anybody.

Photo Credit under CCL: wallyg