The disaster in the Gulf is compounded by BP's failure to understand the issue at all. From estimating that just 1000 barrels of oil were leaking back in May, the latest figure of 40,000 barrels a day is truly astonishing and desparately sad. The Exxon-Valdez spilled 250,000 in total, yet the total so far could be 2 million in the Gulf - eight times more with no end in sight.
BP are continuing in a blinkered war of spin that it is not only losing but contains some of the most pathetic statements possible: "BP notes the fall in its share price in US trading last night. The company is not aware of any reason which justifies this share price movement." was announced last Thursday as its shares have almost halved in value over the past 3 months.
I think it is difficult to blame BP for the deep water drilling. Companies are driven by consumers and shareholders. The real power to stop these idiotic acts of destruction lies with you and me, not BP or the government.
Our addiction to oil needs to be tackled urgently (and not replaced by uranium...). We need individual and collective action to decarbonise our lives.
Our investments, mostly pensions, need to be re-thought. Moving to ethical pension funds is one easy and painless step that we can all take. If enough money shifts from the polluters we will force some useful changes in our society.
This is the real impact of our oil based addiction and our demand for cheap energy:
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