When weighing a quasi-important, ecologically destructive decision in the aftermath of the nation’s largest environmental catastrophe, apparently six months is plenty.
Six months is plenty of time to forget the images of oil-oozing birds, petroleum-laden pelicans and scientific reports that say the long-term effects of the Deepwater Horizon’s calamity will not be known for quite some time.
Less than six months was all it took for the White House on Tuesday to lift the moratorium on oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
How soon we forget.
The Obama administration said the lift came after heavy pressure from the oil industry and others, saying they were losing precious time and resources while the government sat idly, trying to do unimportant things like save our world from anthropogenic annihilation.
And we get it. We get people are all riled up and cranky over losing their jobs when Mother Earth bleeds black gold into our formerly habitable waters.
But going back to business as usual teaches us nothing. It teaches us nothing but destroying our world and avariciously exhausting our resources is right and just.
We know people need jobs. But the answer does not lie in oil. The answer lies in redistributing these jobs in expanding renewable energy similar to what happened when we transformed the transportation industry when we moved from buggy to car. People didn’t lose their jobs; they learned new ones.
It’s time to adapt, America. Because what’s the phrase? Oh, yeah: Adapt or die.
