How To Lessen Our Dependence On Oil And The Perrils Of Drilling For It

Article Written By: Dean Prater

In April of 2010, a tragedy struck the planet that we continue to be reeling from: the Deep Horizons oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The event was the result of a leak from a British Petroleum (BP) oil rig that experienced a malfunction that caused it to gush oil into the Gulf and even at this moment, we are attempting to clean up the mess. We'll take a look at how things are continuing 10 months after the leak began and 7 months after it was capped on July 15th, 2010. We're going to take a look at the devastation this environmental tragedy has caused on our environment, along with what folks are doing to try and help not only to humans, but the other lifeforms which share Earth with us.

Possibly one of the most visually noticeable effects of the Gulf Oil Spill has been the sights we observe on the news broadcast involving animals injured by the toxic crude oil. Reported by Wikipedia, it's estimated that a full 53,000 barrels' worth of oil flowed into the Gulf of Mexico during the 3 months the Deepwater Horizons oil platform was leaking. Therefore practically 5 million barrels of oil escaped into the gulf. During the process, animals of every type were poisoned and therefore died in record numbers, washing up along the beaches of the Gulf. Countless more have been injured by the poisonous waste and they continue to be cared for in the hopes that they will be rehabilitated.

According to a recent editorial in the Tween Tribune (http://tweentribune.com/content/cleanup-continues-oil-damaged-animals), efforts are continuing for rehabilitating sea turtles, egrets and additional creatures that would be powerless to carry on in the wild without human intervention. The price of these rehab efforts have run over half a million dollars, paid for by BP, so far. Understand that this same oil is needed to make not only gas, but also plastics.

A number of estimates place many hundreds of animals deceased, as reported by LouisianaToday.com with no living creatures within an 80 mile radius of the oil platform at present. When you take some time to think about all the birds, fish and then reptiles that exist in a typical mile of wide open ocean, you can get a clue of the fatality rate. This individual event really needs to serve as a reminder to all of us as to the importance of deciding on reusable grocery bags as well as doing even the smallest things to try to help out our environment.

Animals just like shrimp, crabs and marine seafood are a large part of the Gulf region diet plan and without being able to bring in these animals, numerous dining establishments must immediately close down. The lack of consumers within this vacationer heavy locale truly hurts the economy and, as blogger Alexander Higgins pointed out, the risks still lurk beneath the Gulf's surface.

We consumers actually can do something to help our environment. Once we choose eco shopping bags, we aren't just reducing garbage now, we are reducing dependency for the very oil which is needed to create these bags. This really is one little move forward towards a cleaner planet any of us could certainly do.

As it is easy to observe, the Gulf Oil Spill's devastation is having lasting effects. We continue to battle the spoiling of our world, however on the constructive side, we are able to all perform something to help fight the catastrophe from ever taking place again.

About the Author

Dean Prater is going over environmental and sustainability concerns in addition to sharing the idea to companies to use eco shopping bags to advertise both their brand and awareness for this environment.

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