Marc Ong 2i218

After more than three months, it seems that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is finally drawing to a close:
http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/08/04/1619420/lawmakers-focus-on-chemicals-used.html?storylink=mirelated
While this is certainly great news, it is obvious that there is still a great deal of oil in the ocean to clean up (up to 4 million barrels of oil spilled). The surrounding area should be cleaned up as fast as possible to prevent any further damage and pollution to the wildlife in the area.

As it looks like America can finally begin to put the oil spill behind it, I think there are some lessons to be learnt from the American reaction to this situation. Obviously, regulations involving drilling platforms should be tightened to ensure that this type of accident does not happen again. However, after the oil spill, various Americans cried to to boycott BP (http://www.facebook.com/BoycottBP). They felt that BP was ruining their country. While this is true, they forgot that the explosion was an accident. Boycotting BP would not solve much in the long run. After all, what would someone do if they boycotted BP? Go to Shell? Exxon? Those other oil companies have had their own environmental accidents in the past, and yet people can decide to boycott BP just because theirs was the most recent.

I believe such a problem should be solved from its root- America's dependance on oil. They use the most oil in the world and it is this insatiable thirst for it that has caused oil companies around to world to try and find as much oil as they can. As long as America keeps up its demand for oil, companies are going to be drilling as much as they can- a situation where accidents can easily occur. I am not saying BP is not to blame for the oil spill, but I do feel that American people's responses to it have been rather hypocritical.