Saturday, June 12, 2010 saw protests around the world against British Petroleum's handling of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and against the company itself. 53 days after the onset of the disaster, more and more people are beginning to realize its enormity, particularly in the American South. Calls for boycotts against BP are becoming more common, and relations between the company and the Obama administration, strained to begin with, are only growing colder, with Obama publicly calling the spill “an assault on our shores.”
BP Boycotts Miss Their Target
BP boycotts appear to be functioning more as an expression of public anger than as any sort of effective financial blow against the corporation. BP gas stations, the only substantial point of contact between the company and public consumption, are privately owned franchises who get their gas from BP. If they are unable to sell it, the system of distribution is arranged so that BP can simply deliver its gas to other stations, with or without a BP sign out front. Whether or not this system was set up intentionally to protect the corporation, the result is that the victims of a boycott are the franchise holders, not BP.
Anger at BP Implies that Spill Was Preventable
Given the annihilation that is currently occurring in the Gulf of Mexico, anger and even rage at BP are entirely understandable, particularly for residents of the area who have had their livelihoods destroyed. The problem with this reaction is the implication that, other than this disaster, the oil industry is nothing to worry about.
A brief look at history, a history of which the public remains largely unaware, reveals at least 47 major oil spills in the last 40 years, and this omits the many spills that have never been reported, and the millions of smaller spills that occur on a daily basis. In addition, the oil that is not spilled and reaches its intended destination is then burned to fuel the continuation of an industrialized lifestyle, thus contributing to climate change and pollution of the atmosphere.
British Petroleum did not create, and does not control, this system. They are merely the villains, or the scapegoats, of the hour, just as Exxon was in 1989 following the wreck of the Exxon Valdez.
The Oil Economy is Not Sustainable
James Kolbe, writing in the Buffalo News Opinion, expresses the feelings of a growing number when he writes that “ an oil based economy is no longer sustainable.” The Deepwater Horizon disaster is merely the filthy bow on the present that humanity has made for itself. BP's actions are not a problem, but a symptom of a far greater problem.
Rather than boycotting BP, and driving cars to protests against them, concerned individuals would perhaps do better to heed the words of Colin Campbell, co-founder of the Oil Depletion Analysis Centre, who says that “oil and gas dominate our lives, and their decline will change the world in radical and unpredictable ways.” Preparation for these unpredictable changes, in the form of increasingly localized economies and reduced consumption, will go farther to reduce the pain of the inevitable crash than venting anger at BP, a relatively insignificant player in the demise of the oil economy.
More from Alan Foljambe on the Deepwater Horizon disaster:
- Deepwater Horizon Was Given "Categorical Exclusion"
- Deepwater Horizon Spill May Be 19 Times Bigger Than BP Reports
- Top Kill Fails to Stop Leak from Deepwater Horizon
- BP May Face Criminal Charges as Oil Continues to Flow
Sources (accessed June 15, 2010)
Draffan, George. “Major Oil Spills." Endgame.org.
Jonsson, Patrik. “Worldwide BP Protest Day Vilifies BP for Gulf Oil Spill.” Christian Science Monitor, June 12, 2010.
Kolbe, James A. “An Oil-Based Economy is No Longer Sustainable.” The Buffalo News Opinion, June 10, 2010.
Noguchi, Yuki. “Gas Station Owners Pay the Price for BP Affiliation.” NPR, June 15, 2010.
Vidal, John. “The End of Oil is Closer Than You Think.” The Guardian, April 21, 2005.
Weisman, Jonathan. “Obama: BP Will Pay for the Damage it Has Done.” The Wall Street Journal, June 15, 2010.
