Nigerian Oil Pirates

Hello everyone. I'm incredibly sorry that I didn't write yesterday! I had a math test and that in itself is enough to send me in to super freak out mode. I hate math tests and absolutely dread taking them. This one wasn't so bad, or so I think. I started to write this yesterday but scratched it off. I believe that quality is way better than quantity. If you are ever on this blog and find that there is nothing updated, go back and read something again. I do it all the time and I find new elements and new inspiration from old things.

I take public speaking, I think most of you guys know that. One of the topics we debated in student congress was the Nigerian oil crisis. I was mildly upset but it wasn't that big of a deal. Then in Spanish, we are doing a project about the environment. My friend and I chose to do a debate on what Spain should do about their petroleum issue. She got a lot of good information from BP, as in BP the oil company.

BP says on its website that it loves renewable energy sources and that it's looking for new biofuels and new ways to sustain our economy and our dependency on cars. It bothers me so much when oil companies say total blasphemy like that. They say that their logo is a representation of the sun and happiness and a healthy environment. It's pretending to be something that it's not. If we turn to totally "green" and sustainable energy sources, their company is done. Why not be true? BP is a lot of things, but it's not environmentally friendly. As Hawthorne points out in The Scarlet Letter, you should be true to yourself. He even drastically shows that if you aren't true to yourself you die.

Shell annoys me that much more. It's a huge oil company that is always looking to exploit poorer countries and regions. First of all, on their website it says something about engineering their pipes so that they don't freeze in super cold temperatures where the petroleum and crude oil is. And then they have a lovely picture of some fish and another description saying that they got this idea from fish since fish don't freeze. Instead, they're dying from the oil spills that Shell has created. This is where Nigeria comes into play.

Nigeria does have a corrupt government, yes I understand that. The government exports more oil than it should which leads to oil shortages in their own country. It's the 8th largest exporter of oil when it can't actually sustain that. Big oil companies, like Shell, are coming in and taking lots of this oil. They aren't careful about oil spills and the people living in the Niger River Delta are bathing, eating, and living in oil. The fishing industry in the Niger Delta is done for because of oil spills. Maybe fish are immune to the cold, but they sure as heck aren't immune to oil spills. Then the big companies, like Shell, blame oil spills on the oil pirates. Their first report said that 99% of oil spills were caused by the Nigerian oil pirates. If the oil pirates are responsible, Shell gets away with not cleaning up any of their mess. Amnesty International pounced on this and Shell changed their 99% to 70-%. It angers me about how immoral these companies are. I refuse to get gas from Shell.

It's a vicious cycle. The people don't have enough oil. So what they do is poke holes in the pipelines and refine the crude oil in huge makeshift vats. This is costing Nigeria 8 billion dollars annually and is a huge issue. They do this to sell to people in Nigeria which is ridiculous. It's like the US drilling oil in Alaska and then selling it to China. Let's say these Alaskan people aren't happy with this and start poking holes. The holes are never closed up so the oil keeps spilling out, killing fish and endangering people. BP had a huge oil spill off the coast of Alaska and that was a huge issue, leading to everyone hating on BP. Where is that hate for Shell? Just because it's in Nigeria, there is no widespread knowledge. Oil spills just as big as the one BP caused are happening in Nigeria every year. Every year. The US makes a huge fuss about everything but never seems to care about the same situations in other countries. This is a bit of a stretch but the US got so terribly angry at 9/11 (righteously) while we do that almost every day in Afghanistan. These Droid attacks are hurting innocent people and I'm really afraid that the same might happen here. Who's to say it won't if the US continues to do that?

I am in active support of green and renewable energy sources. Solar energy isn't fully sustainable or reliable yet but neither is petroleum. One day fossil fuels will run out and what will we do then? We have to prepare for the future, before we run out. I'm just scared that we will one day have to live like mole people in an underground society just because we ruined all of our supplies and resources. We keep searching for new solutions in Mars and we wonder if life is sustainable there. Why not try to fix our situation here? NASA has recognized global warming as a real threat but nothing has been done. Change can start with all of us, the individual. We can all strive to take shorter showers, turn off the lights when we aren't using them, recycle, walk. It's the little things that add up. Right now the solution might seem farfetched but I'm sure to cavemen, fire seemed dangerous and weird. But they tried it and now we have the society we know. The world is changing and we must change with it. We must go beyond the comfort zone and make the world a better place for future generations.

I didn't have advice yesterday but my advice this week would be to start being more environmentally friendly. If you are, then thumbs up to you! xx

PS: I'm still looking for fun blogs to follow as well as some fun jokes. If you have either please comment below. I'd be happy to start a "Follow these other bloggers" list type thing if enough of you comment. I'd love to hear your comment about what you think too.
I made a page about me so check it out for just more information about what I believe in and some fun pictures.