The explosion of the British Petroleum oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010 and the resulting oil "spill" should make Americans think harder about the sources of energy that we use. Oil is currently spewing from a 5”-6” diameter pipe under nearly 20,000 psi at a rate of 200,000 gallons a day and may get much larger if the ocean floor wellhead fails. Some are saying as much as 100,000 barrels a day. The current Administration's energy agenda seems to be hell bent on drilling for domestic oil, but at what cost? Obviously there was no "what if plan" in place, because if there was much of the current oil "spill" would have been cleaned up instead of continuing to glug, glug, glug into the Gulf of Mexico.
This spill has not been contained thus far, and hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of gallons of crude may wash ashore polluting marshes and estuaries, and killing plants, animals, fish and birds in it's path. The Gulf of Mexico and the Louisiana coast are special biomes, and it is horrific, and unthinkable that there is no plan in place to protect these important natural treasures. Not only is there an impact on wildlife, but also on the fishing industry and tourism.
When will our country put time, energy, and resources into CLEAN energy? When will lobbyists lobby for things that are economically wise and good for our country AND the Earth? When will the public DEMAND clean technologies, and sources of energy?
When I saw the following link, and this "breaking news story", I shook my head and chuckled to myself...if ONLY we could replace the oil rigs with "leaking" wind farms!http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/03/breaking-large-air-spill_n_560762.html
Would a wind farm spew millions of gallons of oil and cause such destruction and damage? NO. Would solar power result in the destruction of marshes, fish, plants, and animals? NO. It is time that our Administration comes CLEAN and GREEN with our National Energy Policies and Agenda.
Atta-girl!!! This past week I did a good thing :) I took a babystep in the form of a phone call to the Governor about BPA for the greater good. Ok, so what is BPA? And why did I call? Read on...
On March 2,2010, Governor Deval Patrick of MA announced that he has directed the Department of Public Health to take steps to impose a limited ban on Bisphenol A (BPA). He has proposed to phase BPA out of baby bottles and cups.
BPA is a toxic chemical linked to early onset puberty, increased diabetes risk, hyperactivity, and certain cancers, including breast cancer. Everyone should urge their government officials to phase out BPA and use safer alternatives that are already available.
Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow (AHT) is urging the Governor to further protect child health, and recommends that the state should also phase BPA out of infant formula and baby food packaging as well as reusable beverage and food containers. Connecticut has already passed a strong law to replace BPA with safer alternatives in many products, and now it is time to do so in Massachusetts as well.
In support of AHT's great work in regards to legislation about BPA, and their BPA Call-in-Week, I called into the Governor's office to thank him for calling for a phase-out of BPA products, and asked that the legislation not stop at baby bottles and cups, but to please include infant formula cans and food and beverage containers as well. Fingers crossed that the Governor will call for a phase out of BPA in these items as well.
For even more info about BPA...check out these sites http://www.americantowns.com/ma/boston/news/governor-patrick-directs-dph-to-address-concerns-about-bisphenol-a-in-baby-bottles-and-cups-261499 and
http://www.healthytomorrow.org/2010/04/how-to-act-on-bpa.html
