bp oil spill lesson

The oil leak from British Petroleum in the Gulf of Mexico is a disaster on the line. We are all aware of the potential danger to the ecosystem Gulf and more critical, the risk to the estuaries of the Mississippi Delta. The daily news reports of volunteers washing feathers are the representation heart. The reports have been written about the economic impact of the spill in the Gulf tourism industry and the industry fishing for shrimp. In this article, we focus on the impact of the loss of a single loss seasons harvest shrimp in the Gulf will be in our diet.

Reality: The Gulf shrimp fishery annual estimates of maximum sustainable yield ranging from high value of 200 million pounds a more conservative value of 86 million pounds (Source: NOAA). A pound of shrimp contains about 480 calories. The performance of the calories in one breeding season shrimp, using the number of conservatives and NOAA 41 billion calories.

Consider that the typical American consumes more than 2,400 calories per day on average during their lifetime (as a child, so they get older). Assuming a typical lifetime of 70 years multiplied by 365 days times 1,500 calories + the average American consumed an average of 60 million calories in your life. It is true that the calories a person of a variety sources and the man can only live shrimp. Although shrimp consumption over many people, it is useful to calculate the equivalent life of one year's harvest shrimp in the Gulf of support, and what will be the impact if one crop of shrimp season is lost or inedible due toxicity.

To get the equivalent number of people fed by the food source itself, Divide 40 billion calories annual harvest 60 million calories by eating human life. Who believes that more than 600 human services equivalent food for life. In a more immediate this means that 42,000 people have gone on hunger in one year for each year of the Gulf shrimp can not eat.

While the demand of the world the center of the global food supply available and the impacts of climate change in predicting crop begins to bite, the unnecessary loss of sources existing support will be critical and less bearable!

What can we do?

A small part of the solution is to reduce our dependence on oil. Not just foreign oil, because of political repercussions, but also the domestic production of oil because of the impact of spills oil on the environment, ie, eco-system and food supply.

Much has been written on about what we can do with current technology, the tendency for hydrogen vehicles to alternative electric and fuel cell, for example, without certainly a major impact, but it will take a generation before these alternatives have replaced the current population of petrol cars and trucks. Solar and wind fields are also in the plan, but only to be planted across the United States.

Because the amount individuals can make small changes to reduce our oil consumption by insulating our homes, the manufacture of CFL bulbs, and even the installation of solar panels. Of "green living" can and must make our own contribution!

What lessons can Americans learn from incidents such as oil spills BP?

We already knew that these activities must be better regulated and trust in the good intentions of companies is stupid. He also knew when the contras Tell us what companies have adequate security and environmental measures put in place to deal with such situations that the disadvantages lie or deliberately stupid.

BP Oil Spill: A History and Science Lesson, Why This Can't Be Contained!