The U.S. consumes 25% of the world’s oil supplies. The breakneck pace of exploration and extraction activity worldwide is a direct outcome of that consumption. The Nigerian oil spills, the deaths, the suffering, and the long term pollution are an outcome of the voracious consumption of oil led by the oil dependent G-20 nations.
New G-20 club members are ready to join the first world’s oil orgy. China consumes 10% of the global oil supply currently. That figure will soar over the next few years. India represents another rapidly expanding market for oil. The two combined will soon shove the U.S. into third place among the major nations reliant this toxic substance.
Drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico is directly tied to the demands of U.S. consumers. The public must quickly make the links between oil dependence, human suffering, and the destruction of the habitat.
When an oil spill occurs it can take decades to reverse the pollution that occurred but with the constant flow of oil pollution it will never be cleared. In Nigeria there is a lack of supervision placed on the oil drillings and there was no environmental studies done to see what the devastating effects on the waters would be. The Nigerian government puts the blame on the oil corporations for the pollution they are causing but have yet done anything to change the ways of drilling.
It is impossible to expose the problems because the people will not listen to the environmentalist who try to warn them. Also the oil company does a great job of keeping the press and media out of their way so they are unable to see how much damage has truly been done.
The United States uses up a majority of worlds oil and need to find an alternate form of energy. Until the world is not as dependent on oil there is no way to slow down the oil drilling which means there is no way to protect the environment.
Title: Big Oil –First Nigeria Then the World
Source: Daily Journal, Green, World News
Date: June 17, 2010
Author: Michael Collins
HYPERLINK http://dailycensored.com/2010/06/17/big-oil-first-nigeria-then-the-world/
Student Researcher: Kevin Knopf, Sonoma State University
Professional Evaluator: Richard Gross