Taking Responsibility

In the days that have passed since the oil explosion in Florida, two articles have caught my eye and made me really think.

One was on NPR (I can't find it on their site now) where a reporter went to upstate NY to talk with people to see whether they felt any personal responsibility for the oil spill - by and large, they didn't. The other was an Op-Ed Column in the New York Times that also addresses the topic of responsibility - and was inspired by a letter a man wrote owning some responsibility for the dependence on oil, that creates situations like the drilling that went awry.

It is my belief that as individuals who drive cars we each bear some responsibility to what happened. As a society we don't seem to get it that oil is a finite resource. It isn't something that will just go on forever and ever. Regardless of where it comes from, we are overly dependent on it. It baffles me to see people driving giant SUV's and trucks (especially in the city, but that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish). What on earth makes someone buy a car that isn't fuel efficient? If you have 9 kids, I kinda get it, but if you have 3? What happened to station wagons and mini-vans? Why do we keep sending the message to car manufacturers that what they are making is a-okay for us?

There are so many elements that tie together for me in looking at the significance of this oil spill. It is time to address the level to which we have become fat, lazy Americans. Our bodies and lives have supersized as corporations sent us the message that they should. Dinner plates went from 9" to 12", our homes were scaled up to massive proportions, the standard deck-of-cards size serving of meat has more than doubled. In fact, fast food vendors even offered to 'super-size it' for us. It stands to reason then, that the evolution of the SUV went hand in hand with all that. The rise of wealth in the 80's and 90's meant more people with money to burn and a desire to show it off to the Joneses.

Now, we have a country full of people who never walk to do an errand, who rely on fast food full of unhealthy meat, chemicals and crap to feed a family, need big cars to accommodate their big asses as they drive to every place they need to go and are going to require major levels of health care to deal with the health issues that come with obesity and aging. And when we drive, we head out in big, huge vehicles that leave major carbon footprints.

I've also read the controversy over boycotting BP stations as they are owned individually and then a small business owner suffers. Well, I think it is time to question working for corporations that employ unethical practices - don't we each have a responsibility to question the ethics of places we are going to work and patronize? Perhaps these BP station owners would like to explore becoming retailers of biofuel or something else?

Why are we, as Americans, so resistant to letting go of our addiction to oil? Why are people meeting the Cape Wind project with lawsuit after lawsuit because it will mar their view or encroach on supposed tribal territory or simply add a few cents to the energy we pay for? Shouldn't we be saying 'great, let's go for it and let's explore how we can capture the energy of the ocean current at the same time to bring in wind and ocean energy together for even more power'?

It baffles me. I walk to do errands whenever possible. I keep the thermostat as low as my husband will allow so we conserve oil. I hang my laundry to dry. Lights are turned off when not in the room. Most things are plugged into power strips that can be turned off when not in use. I shop at the farmer's market to eat locally and organically when possible. Meat is consumed minimally and we don't eat red meat in this house to avoid the antibiotics and e-coli that come with cattle slaughtered when they are covered in the manure they've just stood in up to their bellies for their entire lives. For the most part I try to eat food, not food products each day. I exercise regularly to stay healthy.

Do I think I own part of the disaster in the gulf? You bet. Does it make me think twice when I get into my car to drive? Without a question. Am I motivated to use less energy and oil so we might leave a planet that isn't about to implode to my daughter and her children? Without a doubt.

What kind of responsibility do you accept?