the oil spill view from a 10yr old!

[mike1414]

at a recent barbeque gathering i was talking with friends about the oil spill and later in the day i overheard a conversation with a 10yr old girl and her mother who is a close friend of mine.

it went a little like this -

girl - but if oil is natural to the planet, why is it such a disaster, mum?

mum - bcos of all the animals and plant life that is going to be affected by the oil....

girl - i know its terrible to see the poor birds and animals with oil on them...but eventually wont the oil settle and go back into the earth?

mum - umm yes i suppose eventually it will my dear....after a long time.

girl - but its not like it is human waste or toxic waste bcos it is natural to earth and surely earth has had oil leaks before?

mum - i would have thought thats very true, yes. i think the real problem is that many people depend on oil to use for transport and machines and many other things

girl - so why dont they just use something else instead of oil then, mum?

mum - i dont know my dear, there are many reasons...

girl - just sounds silly to me, why dont they just use something else instead of oil and leave it in the earth....




i just thought id share this little experience i had with you here. everybody knows deep down things are not right....adults sense it....children know it...it is beautiful to see.

the girl here poises some really good questions....why not use another energy source?....why not just change is what she is really saying....just change the way to another better way and we'll all be happy...i believe that is the metaphor for our time here in this incarnation. there are no coincidences and we are all here bcos we intended to be.....we have to be willing to experience change on every level...

just be

peace always
mike

[theguardian]

She know mother earth is suffering,

[bluestflame]

it's the simple truths revealed by the simple questions

[Operator]

the real problem is that many people depend on oil to use for transport and machines and many other things


I certainly have become even more aware of that ...

In the local supermarket everything is wrapped in plastic bags ... that can easily be prevented by bringing your own multiple use linen shopping bag.
But also a lot of redundant blister packaging or other form of plastic containers are totally unnecessary. Especially because the plastic containers can be used multiple times over and over again (they are pretty strong) if they were refilled.
But the point of course is that they are used for advertising as well ... do we really need that ?

It may take quite some effort but are we able to change things like this ?

[Phr0z3n]

Mike1414- "why not use another energy source? Why not just change..."

I took the following quote from a lecture by Isaac Asimov titled "The Future of Humanity." Which can be found at https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/mragheb/www/The%20Future%20of%20Humanity.pdf. It's a great read if you've got some time to kill. Hopefully an this answer from the 70s will help shed some light on the subject.

"Well, when I read all of these references I discovered, to my amazement, that all through history there had been resistance, and bitter, exaggerated, last stitch resistance to every significant technological change that had taken place on Earth. Usually the resistance came from those groups who stood to lose influence, status, money, as a result of change. Although they never advanced this as their reason for resisting it. It was always the good of humanity that rested upon their hearts.
For instance, when the stage coaches came in to England, the canal owners objected. Not that they would lose money, although they would, but they feared for humanity. Because as the stagecoaches tore along at fifteen miles an hour, the air whipping past the nostrils of the people on board, would by Bernoulli’s Principle, suck all the air out of the lungs. Well naturally the stage coach people laughed heartily, and all they had to do was run a stage coach at fifteen miles an hour with people inside and show them there is no harm. But they memorized the argument…for when the railroads came in."