Emerald, you mean to tell me that those horrible oil spills on the news are barely scratching the surface of our pollution contributions?
Yes. That’s exactly what I’m telling you. We have been getting so ticked off at huge oil corporations for the negative impact they have on our environment when things go horribly wrong because they’re easy targets.
Natural occurrences take up the majority – actually 60 percent – of oil pollution in the U.S. Oil naturally seeps from cracks in the ocean floor. Santa Barbara, California actually has one of the world’s largest seepages; it leaks between 20 and 25 tons of oil spurts daily!
However, here’s the thing. In the space of being completely fair and transparent, Mother Nature regulates her oil issues quite well. Areas with natural oil seepages tend to adapt well to these occurrences through evolution. They have microorganisms that have evolved to eat oil molecules, cleaning up the problem. It’s places where natural oil seepages do not occur that face drastic damage – like the Gulf.
Now let’s address our role as consumers in oil pollution. I know my buddy Justin Gammill wrote about blaming cars for pollution and smog and he has a point, but I have to counter it. No, we can’t blame the car for all of our troubles. We just can’t. But we will hold our cars – and ourselves, the drivers – accountable for the contribution our vehicle usage gives to pollution. Every time we drive, oil leaks, drips and escapes our car. Our oil drips, dribbles and drizzles on the road, making its way, en masse, to the ocean. And we’re really clueless to the fact this happens, much less how it happens.
To our credit, time and technology have given way for us to introduce better methods of motor oil recycling and cleaner fuel usage – but this doesn’t dismiss the fact that there are still many cars and trucks contributing to oil runoff pollution. And because this type of pollution is less visible than, say, the huge oil spills we’ve seen in Galveston Bay or Deepwater Horizon, its subtlety largely eludes us from taking collective ownership of oil pollution issues.
The truth speaks for itself: your daily commute – and mine, since we’re being completely honest – kicks off more oil pollution in our water than we realize. And when it’s not our driving that’s causing problems, it’s our poor recycling methods. More than half of all Americans change their own oil … but only one third of this oil is properly collected and recycled.
When it’s not our land loving cars and trucks adding to domestic oil pollution, our recreational maritime vehicles further enhance the mess. Either way you slice it, we’re responsible for oil pollution too. We have high demands for oil as a nation, creating pressure to drill. We use fossil fuels and oil to run our vehicles, and the run off flows back into the ocean. And then we’re kicking it on yachts and jet skis, adding to more fuel runoff and spills without being conscious of what we’re doing.
A wise woman once said, “Don’t let your food get cold staring at my plate!” Yes, the statement’s a little rough, but it’s an honest truth. We must examine our own behaviors before criticizing someone else for theirs. In our case, before we vilify BP, Exxon and other companies for their role in the cantankerous oil pollution crises we’ve experienced in our industrial history, we need to examine how much of a role our actions play, as well. Deep down, when we are deeply open with our situation, and ourselves we’re just as much to blame as the large oil companies for the oil-slicked birds, mysterious cases of dolphin deaths, burned whale carcasses and lowered shellfish counts in our Gulf.
Why? Because either way, the large oil companies were doing what they were supposed to do: providing the fossil fuels we demand to continue our subtle damage of North American ocean waters, one little drop at a time.