Comments on: Gulf Oil Spill: We Said the Night Was Full of Zombies

By: Curtal Friar

Curtal Friar — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:35:09 +0000

Hmmm….couple of things.

Apparently you were unaware that oil has been leaking into the Gulf, and indeed other bodies of water throughout the world, for many thousands of years from natural seeps. Mother Nature has ways of dealing with it, starting with bacteria that consume oil.

There’s also the fact that a great deal of oil on the surface breaks down and/or is evaporated.

This does not mean there are no dangers. Far from it. We do have a lot of work to do, and there could be dangers from this oil spill of which we are as yet unaware.

However, it is by no means the end of the world. The sky is not falling down on our heads, and there is no need to run around with our hands in the air screaming in panic.

Life will go on.

By: Lizliterarius

Lizliterarius — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 02:00:50 +0000

Oooh, I have to share my method of picking up icky trash: a clothes pin. This is how I used to transfer my sister’s poopy diapers from the rinse bucket to the washing machine as a kid and it works beautifully for those gross nasty ‘who knows what’s in em” bags of goo found on the side of the road. Best of all, they only take a tiny amount of space to carry with you…and are often useful for other things, too! I’m in a very urban area where there are trash cans every block or two so I just carry the nasty thing by the clothes pin until I find a suitable receptacle.

But boy, do I get looks when peope ask why I carry clothes pins! Especially since they all have, “I Support the Right to Dry” inked on them!

By: Rebecca The Greeniac

Rebecca The Greeniac — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 10:34:50 +0000

You said it better than I ever could. We just don’t need all of that shit and we really don’t have a right to it. I think if we all really truly had to pay the cost of our extravagant lifestyle, people might think twice…

By: Chantal Plamondon

Chantal Plamondon — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:38:58 +0000

Dear Beth,

Great post! Thank you for your inspiration. I would also like to point your readers to an article by Daniella Russo, executive director of the Plastic Pollution Coalition… The other, bigger ‘oil spill’: Your use of disposable plastic (http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2010/0617/The-other-bigger-oil-spill-Your-use-of-disposable-plastic)…I just blogged about it (http://www.lifewithoutplasticblog.com/2010/06/our-everyday-plastic-consumption-is-like-an-ongoing-giant-bp-oil-leak.html). Our plastic consumption is like an ongoing oil leak to which we contribute collectively every single day.

Chantal Plamondon, co-owner
LifeWithoutPlastic.com

By: There’s peak oil in my sandwich « Local Nourishment

There’s peak oil in my sandwich « Local Nourishment — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 05:45:50 +0000

[...] us, plastic is a petroleum product. (Her thought-provoking take on the oil spill can be read here.) Looking through my home, I see petroleum everywhere, but nowhere in more abundance than my [...]

By: Bankruptcy Ben

Bankruptcy Ben — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 01:23:12 +0000

It has been interesting to see the reaction of the general population to the oil spill. Oil spills like this have been hapening in Nigeria, south america, australia for years and yet the american public who actually consume the oil don’t care. I mean I wish you didn’t have a huge freaking oil slick to deal with but sometimes you need a wake up call, a really big wake up call. Think of this as the american “you have cancer” “but it’s treatable”.

By: becky

becky — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 12:41:17 +0000

I still can’t find my own words for this but your words, Beth, as usual, were perfect.
while i found the zombie/toddler quote upsetting, i think it was appropriate. besides starkly illuminating the violence associated with oil that we conveniently don’t like noticing, from the extraction process right through to the numbers of car related deaths each day, it also hints at one of the biggest driving factors in oil production, the military machine, currently in need of fuel for two wars where toddlers are all too often the real innocent victims. indeed, it is all connected.

By: Lori

Lori — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 05:11:10 +0000

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! Of course a reusable bag would work as well as a plastic one – why didn’t I think of that LOL! The bucket idea would work, too, but I wanted to keep something in my purse for when I’m out running errands or walking the dog.

By: Danielle

Danielle — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 01:29:43 +0000

Oops… I guess I totally misunderstood!! I use one of my reusable shopping bags whenever I don’t have my “litter” bag with me. Obviously, I wash it when I get home.

Oh and if you don’t want to touch the litter, I was just thinking that my brother used to be in landscaping and he used these tong-like things to pick up trash.

Hope that helps :)

By: Beth Terry

Beth Terry — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 01:20:51 +0000

Meg, that’s so funny. I started to write bucket and then realized that usually when I’m picking up trash myself, it’s when I’m on my way somewhere and carrying a bucket is not really an option. But yeah, if you go out specifically for picking up trash, a bucket would work great.