So... I went to a discussion this evening at
Villanova, at which two people from two different African nations came to talk
about the effect that the oil business has had on their national situation. I've
known about this whole deal for a long time, but it was a rough wake-up call. So
why a new category? Well, I'm going to be taking an issue-based class from a man
who worked for Exxon-Mobil for 10 years next semester... and my guess is I'll
have a lot to say.
So most of you
probably already know about this. But the term "raping the earth" is one that
could be applied to how oil companies generally operate. We spent a lot of time
in the last 6 years or so trying to prevent drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge (and failed)- and in developing technology to prevent as much
harm to the local environment as possible should drilling happen. So... what if
the habitat in danger is human, and the lives in danger are also human? The
basic situation, without statistics (because I'm feeling lazy now, I'll be
dropping them later) is this: Oil companies like to make money. Cleanup and
responsibility cost money. Land also costs money. So, they prefer not cleaning
up, not being responsible, and getting land to drill on and operate on for free.
Governments with agricultural-based economies, or ones in which a large number
of mainly subsistence-based citizens tend to not have a lot of money.
Politicians like money. As it turns out, politicians like money in almost any
quantity that oil companies tend to offer... the cost of buying a politician is
a whole lot lower than being responsible, cleaning up, or paying for land. So
the oil companies take land, write contracts about how they're going to "help
the local economy" by creating jobs and industry, hire cheap outside labor, have
to government acquire the land they want to work on, and spray oil all over the
place, ruining the habitat. So people who want
just
live can't. This is not a good thing. Oil
companies have picked people off, enslaved them, tortured them for trying to
rise up against the government and defend their right to land. They really don't
like opposition. Why? Because it's all about shareholders, and making enough to
wow them. Every quarter has to be new and exciting in order for them to stay on
top- and this means raping the land more productively and in more areas every
quarter. This situation is not good for human rights, to say the
least.
So we all agree this is bad. I
hope. If you think this is an acceptable evil on the cause of the common good, I
would request that you make good on your philosophy of individual cost vs.
worldly benefit, and donate a few of your vital organs to patients needing
transplants at your local hospital. As for the rest of us... what do we do? What
sort of occurrence would make the corporations feel the need to stop working
this way? Hippies screaming has yet to do anything significant. The government
is important, too. Can we do anything other than NOT vote for halliburton next
election? Do we yell at congress-people? Blow stuff up? (if you choose this
route, please avoid using petroleum based products in your explosive materials,
that'd really be hypocritical) Here's a quote from one of the speakers this
evening that I found pretty worthwhile (unfortunately I can't remember the exact
wording, I think I have it right) "Laws do not build relationships." That seems
to be a key problem in the whole issue- the legal systems involved are not
creating caring corporations, especially when they're not enforced. Anyone know
oil company shareholders we can yell at? That'd be
fun.
Just for the heck of it, I checked
out Hallburton's
website, mid rant. Here's the image that splashed on the top of my
screen as the page finished
loading:
nuff
said. Comments welcome, if anyone still reads this.
Coming Soon, and Here Already: Oil
