Editorial – Is the BP Gulf Oil Spill a Wake Up Call? by Jamie Gilcig – Cornwall Ontario – May 18, 2010

Cornwall ON – BP’s oil spill in the Gulf has led to a spurt of value to the Oil Sands in Alberta.   As usual the focus economically is on the easiest and dirtiest of energy sources.  And the vision is purely in the short term.

While we collect those short term dollars on the Oil Sands we do so without the proper focus on finding cleaner ways to glean energy, and cleaner ways to harvest the oil sands themselves.

What lessons are we learning from the current crisis in the Gulf, the full story of which isn’t really being covered in the media yet?  You can’t have that much oil spill into the ocean without massive impacts on life in the area.

What will it take for our governments, and in fact us, to realize that we need a better way before we truly are left with no choices or face a catastrophe that we can’t simply pay our way though.

Alternative energy sources need to be fast tracked, and we need a societal vision that’s supported and clearly visible for all to make choices about.  We need more than a bit of ethanol in our gas tanks, or a few solar panels and wind turbines.

Canada has some golden opportunities if we as a nation embrace them, and we need to embrace them soon.  It’s more than conservation and the environment.  It’s not about tree hugging.  It’s about money, business, and maxing the benefit for all Canadians including more jobs that we need.

Do we really want to buy our electric cars at Walmart?

What do you think Canada?  Y0u can post your opinions below.

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7 Comments

  1. That spill is going to hit those poor souls who rely on the ocean really hard down there. People should really go to jail for it, but I doubt it is going to happen.

    I think you got to look at methane capture from raw sewage. The problem is with the other gases in there this stuff stinks!

  2. Yes lets smoke some pot, all these problems will all go away in a puff of smoke!

  3. A wake-up call? Who’s listening?

  4. One of the problems is that a lot of the people that make up our federal government are fundamentalist Christians. They believe that JC will be making an appearance soon, and that they and their “saved’ friends will be swept up into eternal bliss as the world is being destroyed by fire, flood, and pestilence. Why would they give a rats a$$ about silly oil spills or nuclear accidents when the end is so near?

  5. Repent! Repent! The end is nigh….

  6. Furtz A Bootbomb: This is certainly a serious allegation you are making about Mr Harper and his fundamentalist friends. What gives you the right to assume they are saved? Should you not have asked “Pastor” Tom to make that decision, seeing as how he owns the keys to heaven and hell?

  7. Hey despite all the talk the US governement just approved another Gulf oil well!!!

    They apparently applied for this new well after the current BP crisis had started!! It went that fast!!

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