Lets face it, the oil will come to Miami (how much, tax)

[doggiebus]

I agree if we really wanted to use alternative energy we would have it.

[xS☺B☺s]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

I do think alternative energy COULD BE here tomorrow if we wanted it to be. I mean, the technology in the military is immense. If we can do just about everything else you can imagine military-wise ...

The Manhattan Project went from a phone call to Berkeley in 1942 to boom in 1945.

Come to think of it, all of WW2 went from start to finish in less than 4 years.

It's a simple formula - necessity/complacency. Once it becomes urgent enough, people will get off their duffs. Might require 50 years of misery before that happens though. That's just human nature though.

I just don't understand why Big Oil is so idle on the issue. I mean they don't so much sell oil as they sell energy. They can make just as much $ selling solar energy as oil and they have the resources to get ahead of the curve and be the ones who do the R&D to develop the next gen. Why Standard Oil is sitting around drilling for finite oil when they can be laying solar panels out in the Nevada Desert collecting limitless solar energy I can't fathom. Someday Big Oil will be dead - replaced by Big Energy.

But then again Japan and Germany had to be reduced to rubble before they got the message that Hitler & Hirohito weren't divinity.

Which is why my usual outlook on global collective thought is usually "whatever".

[rogerbacon]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

I am curious...if many of the pro-Palin, pro-deregulation, pro-oil galore in the Gulf of Mexico crowd....wondering what they are thinking now...?

We're thinking that with all the decades countries have been drilling for oil in the ocean that its amazing and deplorable that we didn't have a contingency plan for something going wrong. I support offshore oil drilling and would like to see more of it but we need to have plan in place for when something goes wrong.

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

Since oil companies are so rich, wealthly, and large...we're all basically manipulated into thinking it is ONLY oil that makes things run/work.

Oil is the cpeapest form of energy right now. If there was a cheaper way of making energy then someone (maybe even the "evil" oil companies) would do it.

A private company is working on a new fuel for general aviation airplanes derived from biomass because they are worried the Obama administration will ban 100ll gas since it contains lead. Swiftfuel 100LL Replacement

[flyers29]

Originally Posted by Bostonian08

The Manhattan Project went from a phone call to Berkeley in 1942 to boom in 1945.

Come to think of it, all of WW2 went from start to finish in less than 4 years.

It's a simple formula - necessity/complacency. Once it becomes urgent enough, people will get off their duffs. Might require 50 years of misery before that happens though. That's just human nature though.

I just don't understand why Big Oil is so idle on the issue. I mean they don't so much sell oil as they sell energy. They can make just as much $ selling solar energy as oil and they have the resources to get ahead of the curve and be the ones who do the R&D to develop the next gen. Why Standard Oil is sitting around drilling for finite oil when they can be laying solar panels out in the Nevada Desert collecting limitless solar energy I can't fathom. Someday Big Oil will be dead - replaced by Big Energy.

But then again Japan and Germany had to be reduced to rubble before they got the message that Hitler & Hirohito weren't divinity.

Which is why my usual outlook on global collective thought is usually "whatever".

Exactly. Oil companies are working on alternative energy because there is incentive for them to be the "first" to develop alternative energy sources that can be produced en masse. It's not there yet because they haven't found out how to do it yet.

[amIayankee?]

Hi. I'm the person that made this thread. Are any muncipalities taking precautions? Mitigations? For clean up? Is it a lost cause beacuse the next day there will be more oil?

[flyers29]

Originally Posted by amIayankee?

Hi. I'm the person that made this thread. Are any muncipalities taking precautions? Mitigations? For clean up? Is it a lost cause beacuse the next day there will be more oil?

It's started to hit around Pensacola...there are actually a few threads on the main Florida forum on this topic that could probably give some good insight.

[matchpoint]

Originally Posted by flyers29

Yes, I believe that there will be negative long term effects. But I don't agree with the poster in that Gulf residents will certainly face "danger for the next 20 years." This is something the scientific community hasn't come to consensus on, so how can we definitively conclude what will happen?

We literally don't have the time to wait around for your logical reasoning to catch up with "reality."

It's not just the oil that is toxic but its the dispersant. Is there a non-toxic dispersant for the dispersant?

It is not alarmist thinking to make the conclusion that consuming fish from the Gulf or swimming in the Gulf will be hazardous to peoples' health for the next 20 years. Since BP is stonewalling scientists and the press with trying to come up with a accepted spill rate we should assume the worst for our own protection. BP was trying to sell everyone on a fantasy number of 1000 barrels a day...do you think that is an accurate number or just might it be a bit low? 5-50million barrels of oil (by the time the gusher is finally shut off) in the Gulf can't be good for swimming and fish

We're going to have to revamp and beef up the FDA in order to protect consumers from "consuming" hazardous fish.

[flyers29]

Originally Posted by matchpoint

We literally don't have the time to wait around for your logical reasoning to catch up with "reality."

It's not just the oil that is toxic but its the dispersant. Is there a non-toxic dispersant for the dispersant?

It is not alarmist thinking to make the conclusion that consuming fish from the Gulf or swimming in the Gulf will be hazardous to peoples' health for the next 20 years. Since BP is stonewalling scientists and the press with trying to come up with a accepted spill rate we should assume the worst for our own protection. BP was trying to sell everyone on a fantasy number of 1000 barrels a day...do you think that is an accurate number or just might it be a bit low? 5-50million barrels of oil (by the time the gusher is finally shut off) in the Gulf can't be good for swimming and fish

We're going to have to revamp and beef up the FDA in order to protect consumers from "consuming" hazardous fish.

Anything substantive to back that up? I'm open to new information as I'm not an expert on this subject; however, I've seen nothing to lead me to believe that the supply of consumable fish or the ability to swim in the Gulf will absolutely be affected for the next 20 years.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by flyers29

Anything substantive to back that up? I'm open to new information as I'm not an expert on this subject; however, I've seen nothing to lead me to believe that the supply of consumable fish or the ability to swim in the Gulf will absolutely be affected for the next 20 years.

Strange...you've never seen a video or film or even a photo of what excessive oil does to fish and birds?

Were you even born for the EXXON VALDEZ oilspill in 1989? I guess you must be quite young??

It seems in this post-Fox News era...of pro-corporations, anti-consumers, anti-environmentalism....there is so much apathy and indifference...

[CouldIhaveBeenanyonebutme]

Living near New Orleans, i have "first hand" experience with this particular incident. I personally see the seafood restaurants shutting down and with each one that closes, New Orleans loses a little bit more of who it is (as unintentionally pompous as that may sound) and to be in the midst of it all sucks to put it bluntly. And sure, the oil spill is a terrible thing and BP is handling the situation terribly, but I think all of the fatalistic projections are a step ahead of the curve. As a previous poster said, the world's "top" scientists aren't sure of many of the particulars of this problem (i.e. Number of barrels leaking hourly, ecological effect, spread of the oil) so, how can we be sure? How can we know that of the "facts" are true? On the local news they announce a new estimation of the rate of the leak almost every day. Quite frankly, nobody knows the particulars of the situation and just how far the oil might go and just how long the coastal region will be dealing with the aftermath. Don't adopt a wait and see attitude, stay proactive, but I also don't think that doomsday theories of the oil lasting like the radioactive fallout in Chernobyl are really necessary. Tis easy to see, hard to foresee.

On another note, one shouldn't blame America's greed for oil for this. . Blame human error. Blame the explosion. Blame Obama or George Bush. But until every single person angry about our dependence on oil starts riding a bike or walking every where they go or taking steps to develop alternative forms of energy themselves instead of waiting on others to do it, please don't blame it on America's dependence on oil. It is quite hypocritical.