Hear, Hear

From Robert Rapier's blog speaking of the Gulf oil spill:
"Who is ultimately responsible for this? BP and Transocean obviously bear the most direct responsibility. But keep in mind that we enable BP because we demand cheap energy. There are very real consequences from our cheap energy demands, and this incident casts a spotlight on one of those consequences. When gas prices spike, the public gets angry and politicians promise their constituents that they will fix the problem. So what is the result? We continue to scour the globe for cheap fossil fuels to satiate the public’s demand to be able to pull up to the pump and pay $2.50 a gallon for gasoline any time they feel like it. So while BP is certainly responsible, so are we all.

I have read of demands that this needs to be a wake-up call that we need cleaner sources of energy. I think we have already had that wake-up call. I think people recognize that we need cleaner sources of energy. If you poll the public, you will find broad support for that. No, the wake-up call needs to be that people connect the dots from their own energy consumption to oil spills in the gulf and explosions in coal mines. When that wake-up call is heeded, perhaps people can begin to understand the consequences of our perpetual demands for cheap energy. Then maybe we can all decide that the “non-negotiable American way of life” is actually negotiable."
TW: I actually support offshore drilling as a least bad alternative, oil prices are going to go up even with such drilling, it is only a matter of how much. But the costs (e.g. negative externalities) of oil and coal and other fossil fuels must be integrated into folks minds when pondering alternatives. And blaming politicians for perpetuating the never-ending chase for cheap oil is hypocritical when we demand it. We are the hypocrites.