Just in case I wasn't enough of a jerk in my last oil-spill post, I'd now like to point out what would be involved if you actually wanted to boycott BP.
1. BUYING GAS - You would have to go to an Exxon, Shell, etc. station for your gas. As we all know, they are no angels either. This Newsweek article has a great overview of the environmental niceties that these other companies engage in.
2. FLYING - no. BP makes jet fuel too!
3. PUBLIC TRANSIT - For me, I'd probably have to walk to work since right now I take the bus and yes, I am too lazy to try and find out where Metro King County gets their gas from.
4. SHOPPING - Well first you'd have to stop buying anything made out of plastic. But more importantly, you'd have to stop buying items that are transported by truck, train, or plane. Yes, BP makes diesel too! Said items might include things such as... well, I can't think of any retail stores that get deliveries by bicycle/sailboat/horse/other draft animal. So I guess you'd have to stop buying just about EVERYTHING.
5. EATING - What's that? You still want to eat? Well, you could make an exception to #4 and walk to the grocery store. But you'd have to buy all organic foods because it takes about 1/3 of a gallon of gasoline just to make the fertilizer that grows the daily food of an average American. (I got that stat here, and by the way it was from 1994 so I'd imagine that number has gone up by now.)
6. ELECTRICITY - Depending where you live, you may be lucky enough to be powered by hydroelectric power, or coal! But if your local power plant uses petroleum or natural gas, then it's candle time for the modern boycotter. Yes, BP makes natural gas too!
7. INTERNET - Ok, what if you have a sweet solar-paneled laptop carrying case that can give your lappie a fossil-fuel-free recharge? Well... that's fine if you want to work on your novel. But most websites use servers, which use electricity. See #6.
So you can't eat or surf the web? That's pretty rough. But life isn't over. (At least not until you starve to death in about 2 weeks.) You and your special someone can still get it on! And good news - latex is made from rubber, which is not made by BP!
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2 comments:
ya it all sucks eh?
Boycotting never works to sustain long term change, same with an embargo on the international front. I totally agree we should really use this opportunity to focus on developing alternative energy instead of playing blame games and crucifying BP. Immigration and health care could wait.
I'm pretty disappointed with Obama so far, he's getting more populist and not really changing anything.
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