Oil, Oil, Oil

British Petroleum has a lot to answer for as the Gulf of Mexico turns into a toxic sea where life may never be the same again. The company is culpable and needs to forced to take financial responsibility for the disaster. The ethics of the matter are not so clear. It is far to easy for each of us to sit in our living rooms and cry out in anger at the devastation of the environment. We all watch it taking place on our TV sets that were imported on planes fueled by ... petroleum products. The plastic in the TV is made from ... petroleum products. The cabinet in which the TV stands is cleaned with products from bottles made from plastic which is made from ... petroleum products. The coffee that you drink whilst your outrage grows is imported, the sugar used to sweeten the coffee is imported, the cup is made in China, the cherries you eat with your coffee ... imported. The chair in which you sit and the carpet on which it stands all have petroleum products in them. Even the hardwood floor has a lining made from petroleum.

Perhaps the time has come for all of us to stop being so quick to point fingers at big business and ask ourselves the most important question: what have I done to reduce the world's dependence on oil so that a company like BP does not feel the need to rush putting a new well online and ignore safety standards? We can all weep over the destruction but every time you drive to the store to buy your gallon of milk in the plastic bottle using your plastic debt card you are a part of the problem. If we want to save the world we have to start with ourselves and see how far we can make that commitment to the future of the irreplaceable planet.

We can change nothing if we are not prepared to change ourselves.