Corporate Responsibility

It is a serene day on the Gulf Coast. Early in the morning, entire towns say goodbye to brothers, fathers, and friends as they board their fishing vessels for another long day out at sea. Meanwhile, a dangerous and unsafe oil rig finally does the unthinkable and explodes. 11 people lose their lives while the rig sinks to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and tens of thousands of barrels of oil start gushing into the sea. The unsuspecting fisherman and communities along the coast have no idea what is about to happen to them.

British Petroleum, the company that owned the rig, has failed America and the world. They operated an unsafe rig and then failed to have any plan in place for if or when the unthinkable were to happen. They have consistently tried to downplay the amount of oil in the water and the ecological and economic damage caused by their recklessness. They have not paid the fisherman, whose livelihoods are probably ruined for at least a decade, and the process for receiving any funds from them is set up as a complicated process that will prevent people that need it most from receiving it. Every clean up effort they have attempted to establish has been hastily thrown together and lacks any credibility. Ultimately, it is another example of a corporation that has placed an entire region of America at risk.

Sarah Palin had a post on her infamous Facebook page that asked the American people to overlook this "isolated incident" and still trust the oil companies with our energy needs. Sorry Sarah, but this is the final straw. If nothing else can be gleaned from this tragic event, we should at least realize our need for alternative fuels and energy sources. One oil rig has successfully taken down an entire region of America and it is not done yet. From Exxon Valdez to the Gulf Disaster, it has been proven that we need another form of power to lead America into the future. It is time to put the money and resources that we would be using to prevent another disaster and instead start putting those into developing clean, reliable, and safe fuels that can be used by everyday Americans in everyday situations. We can do it. It is not decades away anymore. If we buckle down, fight the propaganda, and finally decide to lead again, we can never again be afraid of being punished for a corporation's mistakes.