Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Oil of "Oh, Lord"


Man this oil spill is a nightmare. Just a clusterf*ck of epic proportions. I'd always felt bad about it, but now that I've actually been to the Gulf coast (sort of) and heard first hand how much its going to devastate that awesome region - from fishing, to tourism to poor little oil covered pelicans - it really breaks my heart.


As you know, once in a while we like to break out of our shell here at GitW HQ and offer a helping hand to the world at large. If you're interested in lending a hand, here are some things you can do:


- Go down and clean up oil! If you want to volunteer to scrub that stuff, go to OilSpillVolunteers.com. This is only recommended for people who actually live down there.


- Buy Dawn. The soap maker is donating $1 of every bottle of dish soap it sells toward cleaning up the spill. Apparently dish soap is very helpful in getting oil off little critters.


- Throw money at the problem. This is usually my strategy. The National Wildlife Federation, Alabama Coastal Foundation and Audubon Society are all involved in the cleanup and could use some coin.


- Write angry letters. This one tells the President to pass more wetlands protection legislation, this one calls for a halt to offshore drilling (if you're politically inclined that way).

- Boycott BP. These guys are really just the worst. I know there's a tendency for some people (myself included) to go overboard with the whole, "Blame the corporations!" shtick, but it really does look like there were warning signs on the Deepwater Horizon rig that BP ignored in order to avoid shutting down for a few days because it would have cost them a few million dollars. Because of that, they've lost billions of dollars and destroyed an entire economy and ecosystem. Bravo, lads! Keep in mind, BP brands include Castrol, AmPm and ARCO.


(Note: I stole a lot of these ideas from my former co-worker's blog, and she in turn stole them from US News & World Reports. Gotta give credit where credit is due).

2 comments:

Dave Harrington said...

Gooooo Pelican! Hooraaayyy Pelican! Or not.

Sincerely,

Tony Mantanga

Anonymous said...

Yeah, BP sucks. Why were they drilling in the ocean in the first place? I mean what gives them the right to try and get oil to the surface. Gosh what jerks . . .

I would finsih my thoughts here but I gotta run - my Hummer is due for an Oil Change and I've got to drive it about 60 miles to the nearest mechanic. I'll probabally have to stop for Gas about 3 times on my way and I am sure there will be all kinds of other traffic because pretty much every one in this city drives everywhere they need to go (I actually drove to the ATM Across the street from my house). Anyway - I'll consider reposting my thoughts when I get back but only after I go and puchase some Oil Based plastic products to contain the gas for my dune buggy, boat, and riding lawn mower (i dont even have a lawn i just like having it).

But in Summary - definately BP is to blame.

Love,

Average American Fitzgerald.