In which I find myself (gasp) agreeing with Sarah Palin ... up to a point.

"Uh-oh, we're running out of gas!"
"Oh, look at all these dirty gas stations! Not for me!"
"Yeah, they're black!"
"Hey look at that gas station! It's white! With a flower on it!"
"Wow, happy whistling gas pumps are filling up our car! Now flowers are coming out of our a..., I mean, tailpipe!"
"Thanks, BP"



I've been following the oil spill off of Louisiana with a sickening lurch in my stomach for the past couple of weeks, even sharing the news with my students. It's sadly funny how the above commercial fit right into my topic that week about Environmental Marketing - okay, greenwashing - and the media.


(Haven't yet heard of greenwashing? Oh, of course you have. But the above video is still funny, even if it is a bit too close to the truth...)

And speaking of the truth...we all know who's responsible for this disaster, right? No, Not BP, Not the President. It's those environmentalists! Naturally, when I read the headline, I was intrigued, if not a little amazed at how malleable logic is in the hands of a certain ex-governor of Alaska. But then, I went on to read a few articles, and dang if she doesn't have a valid point hidden in there somewhere. (For those of you who missed it: the oil spill happened because environmentalists have blocked access to all the "safe" drilling areas in the US, like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge...)

So her valid point? We ARE exporting our environmental disasters to the rest of the world. As a matter of fact, oil spills are one of our leading exports. We are quite comfortable with environmental damage, as long as it's far far away - preferably involving people who don't look like us.

Here's a view from Azerbaijan.

...and here's Bangladesh. (Both of the above photos from Ed Burtynsky, an amazing photographer well worth checking out further...)

The thing is, events like this occur all over the world, all the time. Sorry, but oil is simply dirty, and human systems are, unfortunately, prone to failure. It's only when failures happen close to our backyard that we are shocked, shocked! And outraged! Something has to change! (Until the media coverage dies down and we can keep on merrily consuming more oil, that is.) Which brings us back to Sarah, again, and her proposed solution. Just drill more on our land in Alaska! It's far away! If there are spills, only a few caribou will notice! (Oh, and polar bears. But they're dying out anyway...) Sigh. How typical, how typical. Here's an idea, Sarah, honey. Instead of us exploiting more, how about we consume less?