spills show the urgent need to wean ourselves off oil

Shannon Norwood
SOC 202 – Current Event Log #1
08/18/06
The article from The Vancouver Sun, whose headline read “spills show the urgent need to wean ourselves off oil,” mainly focused on the oil leak off the coast of Lebanon. (http://libproxy.uncg.edu:2084/universe/printdoc) A power plant was hit by an Israeli bomb in mid – July. This is an area of war zone so it is difficult to get the spill cleaned up. The exact seriousness of the problem is not known yet. It is estimated that 140 kilometers of coastline has been polluted and somewhere between 11 million and 40 million liters of oil have leaked into the ocean. The article stated that Ecologist are very worried about the affects the oil leak will have on the population of sea turtles and tuna. The oil leak can also affect the people living near the area. These people could become very sick. The article referenced other oil spills like the one on august 4th near Squamish, B.C., the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, and the Prudhoe Bay in Alaska. The main point the article was making that these oil spills happen too often so our environment is harmed too often and the only sure way to prevent the spills is to stop using oil. The article also stated that the oil spills are the responsibilities of the companies, governments, and everyday consumers. The article believes that it is urgent that there is an alternative to oil.
Oil spills are a major problem that affects the ecosystem, the economy, and people. Lots of time and money are devoted to cleaning up the oil spills. Taxes in the area may rise to help afford the clean up. Also fishermen would be out of jobs due to the contamination of the fish. Oil spills can cause the destruction of a lot of ocean life. The oil spill that the article focused on talked about the loss of tuna and sea turtles. The tuna fishermen will not be able to fish for them, one because of contamination and two; because the supply of tuna will decrease even after the spill is cleaned up. Many sea turtles are endangered and the population of sea turtles is hard to determine. Oil spills will only worsen this situation.
I believe that oil spills do pose a serious problem but oil is needed. Until an alternative for oil can be determined, the risks for oil spills are still present. If an alternative can be found, that is environment friendly, I am sure many people would be happy and the environment cleaner.