Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Love Canal- Benjamin Bitner

             I watched the Love Canal videos and then posted the tragedy with the BP Deep Horizon Oil Spill. This was the most massive oil spill in the history of the world and it happened right in the Gulf of Mexico. There were two videos that i posted and they can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KgFBciS_X0&feature=share and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkqLn49Hmzg&feature=share. Lastly i posted the article on the BP Oil Spill from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/30/gulf-oil-spill-conservation. These were the responses that i received when i posted it on my Facebook page with "Please watch the following movie clip and comment with your reaction to the video. These kinds of things are still happening today":


            Justin Boyer The BP oil spill is a perfect example of why pure capitalism doesn't work. Corporations can get so powerful that they escape accountability. Government regulation is needed so that corporations can be held accountable to the people. We all live here. My voice deserves to be heard as much as any corporation, but unfortunately often times it is not because I do not have the money that a corporation does. There are other things that matter more than the financial bottom line-some things like the preservation of the environment cannot be measured by their 'cash value'

           
            
Tim Bitner That took me by surprise. Its really sad to see careless mistakes like that that put the environment, wildlife, ocean growth, and even people in jeopardy. The government definitely needs to set some regulations to prevent accidents like that and should do everything possible to help correct and fix it as quickly as possible.

           
            
Matt Hatch Obviously the corporation is to blame for causing the accident, but I think the high demand for oil especially in the United States is what drives companies like BP to desperate measures to supply the oil. Obviously this is an incredibly costly clean up project and highly damaging to the environment, yet it and other spills or mistakes are looked over because of our huge oil consumption needs

           
            
Jeffrey Helsten It's sad to see the priorities that some people have. Often times we hear more about the CEOs of companies who decided to take short-cuts in order to save money, or to increase short-term gains. Even with many regulations in place, not just in the Oil industry, but in many industries, those in charge of the companies would much rather fork out 10-100 thousand dollars in fines in order to get the government off of their backs rather than having to spend money on staying up to code. The corruption doesn't end there, but even those lower down in the hierarchy are turning a blind eye to these obvious faults. It is obvious that each one of us has our role in helping repair the damage done by these incidents, but unfortunately in the society we live in, those with the real power to make big changes happen now, are the ones tangled up in the mess to begin with.



            
Tiffany Van Blerkom You would think that an industry as wealthy and vital as oil would have the sense to be more careful. It is time that the government steps in and stops these tragic spills from happening. Not only is it having horrible consequences for the wildlife and the environment, but a spill as severe as the BP oil spill will cause terrible repercussions to the human population for years to come!


            
Redge Ballard I see this as being one of the biggest problems in modern society. Dang old money seems to be the only thing that drives anyone to do anything. Just like Jeff said, if it costs more money to clean up the oil than to pay some fines, they're going to go the cheaper route. I watched some other vids about this and the part that really kills me is just seeing the birds and animals totally soaked in oil and all... People just don't realize that they need to take responsibility for stuff they did. Who gives a crap if it was an accident or what, just buck up and take responsibility for what happened.



            
Carly Jo Bitner I think that's so sad. We as a society need to be more careful with things like that and the affects we're having on the environment. I agree with the above comments that our society has issues because of its high demands for things like oil and that we let money be the thing that drives us. That's when sad mistakes like this one happen.


            
Alisa Bitner The pursuit of money often outweighs the pursuit of doing the right thing. I'm not an environmentalist by any stretch of the imagination but I do hold corporate responsibility and ethics and integrity high on my list. I think it's such a shame that this situation happened, let alone was able to occur, and I'm deeply disappointed with the response of both the US Government and BP to address, maintain, and clean up the spill. How important is the dollar and at what expense do we call it too far and too much. Bring the Keystone on through!!!


            
Ty Hilton I feel bad for the people that are having to go through these types of difficulties! My thoughts are like everyone else's, that something needs to be done to prevent such incidents but it will probably be like most incidents where it's cleaned up taken care of or whatever and everyone talks about making things better but it doesn't actually get done.


            
Kaitlyn Harris Bitner I think it is really unfortunate this had to happen. Not only does it affect the people living in the area of the spill, it affects everyone in the USA. It is really sad for the sea life too. The coolest part though is that they used hair to clean it up.


My responses to some of the questions on the BP Deep Horizon Oil Spill and the Love Canal Tragedy:

            Were you aware that environmental tragedies of this magnitude still exist today? 
            Honestly, i never really thought about how much damage some of these environmental tragedies  caused. I had heard of the BP oil spill in 2010 but it was hush hush by the media at the time and wasnt talked about to much, at least in plan view. The Love Canal tragedy was something i had never heard of and didnt think even something like that could exist today.

            In your opinion are environmental hazards something we should be concerned about on a daily basis?
            Absolutely. If one environmental hazard goes without being corrected, then other environmental hazards will occur with no real concern of consequence. Regualtions would be ignored that protect us and our environment. 

            Why should we care about something that happened over 30 years ago?
            In reference to Love Canal, i think it is important that we care about such disasters of our past. By learning from our past, we can implement this knowledge to mitigate further environmental hazards.






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