Comments on: Big Oil is the dirty boot of an out of control sociopath committing ecocide

By: felipeicm

felipeicm — Mon, 24 May 2010 03:45:24 +0000

Start reducing your consumption levels of everything.
Given the nature of your question I realize you need to read it again:
START REDUCING your consumption levels of everything.
The reason: to produce everything you consume, someone took raw materials from natural resources; to transform them, he used energy; to make it get to you also took some more energy, and now multiply this by 6.000 million people. I know there are about 2.000 million that don’t consume at all, but some 300 million others on rich countries consume each by 20 average human beings.

By: kristin

kristin — Thu, 20 May 2010 17:06:49 +0000

“However, to this day, no organism, ecosystem or indeed, nature as a whole, has ever been afforded a legal right, despite their role in sustaining civilization.”

thank you for pointing this out; which becomes insanely hypocritical now that Citizens United v Federal Elec. Com. has given corporations the same rights as humans. where are the rights for what we depend on to live – the planet?

By: Polly Higgins

Polly Higgins — Thu, 20 May 2010 15:38:14 +0000

The recent and tragic Deepwater Horizon disaster, which has served to demonstrate a shortcoming that all – banks, governments as well as corporations and society in general – have until now underestimated. Firstly, that oil exploration is an exceptionally dangerous activity, which can – and in this case has – result in loss of life, damage to property and destruction of the environment. Secondly, and crucially, such significant adverse environmental impacts have affected an area far broader than the site itself. This is what is referred to by the World Bank under their Operational Policy for Environmental Assessment risk analysis of projects as a Category A (ie high risk) project. We have seen tragically that this incident has and is likely to continue to have adverse environmental impacts for many decades to come and have an impact on an area far broader than the site itself.

My conscience tells me that we cannot ignore this problem. Recent events demonstrate that existing policies are not adequate. What is now required are strong guiding ecological principles to be put in place before any further dangerous outcomes take place. This will require nothing less than us challenging our basic and fundamental assumptions on what is now acceptable damage to the environment and the ecology of the planet as a whole.
There is no global legislation in place to ensure corporations take responsibility, or even anything identifying what responsibilities they have, which is why I am calling for the crime of Ecocide to be put in place, to implement a duty of care for the planet and a pre-emptive obligation to ensure very different outcome in the years to come than the tragedy that is rapidly unfolding today.

By: Mia Manners

Mia Manners — Wed, 19 May 2010 15:27:22 +0000

There should be a system of capping the amount of money that can profit any one trans/multi national. And when it gets there, it goes back into social/environmental areas world wide, thus balancing out our polluting ways and our hunger for so called progress/profit. There will be no natural environments left at the rate the economy works in this time. The sooner Govs and the people and those with consciences start to say no to the continuous rape of Earths resources for the shareholders and stock owners the better. We cannot continue with a capital model that pollutes, poisons, destroys massive natural eco systems/biodiversity and says its ok. Shame on Big Biz.coms world wide…shame on the bankers and shame on us

By: Jason Lake

Jason Lake — Tue, 18 May 2010 23:58:26 +0000

What can we do ?

By: Fancy

Fancy — Mon, 17 May 2010 16:48:38 +0000

I would not totally blame the people either. I think most would change over if they could. Big oil is said to buy up patents that use other things for energy.

Also I know I would change if I could afford to do so.

But it is us too for not demanding that change. We do as a group hold the power over the corporations but we are too busy bickering over politics. That too is a smoke screen to keep people busy off the more important stuff.

I would support the Venus project if anyone who reads it don’t know of it go to TheVenusProject.com and theZeitgeistmovement.com

It can be changed but it will not be so easy to till most get on board.

By: positively

positively — Mon, 17 May 2010 01:42:27 +0000

The worst barbarity of war is that it forces men collectively to commit acts against which individually they would revolt with their whole being.

By: mohamed ali

mohamed ali — Sun, 16 May 2010 15:58:27 +0000

Big oil is our invention.

All of us who use the internal combustion engine and fossil fuel for heating created, and sustain, it.

This oil spill serves to remind us that what we burn in our engines is toxic to our environment – in this case we are doing to the ocean quickly what we were planning to do to the atmosphere slowly.

Anyone seeking a culprit should check the mirror, and anyone who wants to make amends should start now in their own day-to-day life.

In the meantime we need to devise a way to incorporate ‘externalities’ such as this disaster into the price of gasoline, and we need to nationalize BP in order to ensure that it pays the full cost of the leak – many tens of billions of dollars.