Oil Pollution/Spills
Human footprint on the environment. We know that
everything we do has a cause and effect, but we normally don’t care about the
effects that we cause, only what they do to benefit our lives. I plan on making
a website that addresses the issues that we cause to the Earth, specifically
the recent and apparently never-ending oil spills. There are laws in place to
stop the dumping of gallons of oil into the ocean like the Oil Pollution Act of
1990 which holds companies responsible for their environment catastrophes and
gives the EPA the means to clean up their mess, like the help of the United
States Coast Guard. The reason why I have chosen this topic is because I find
it unfair and, to some extent, preposterous how people live their lives
committing actions that they have been told numerous times is bad for the
environment and don’t try and change even slightly to improve the Earth. There
has been no luck in finding another planet that can house the billions of
species, including ourselves, that live on the planet. With is knowledge and
realization people still can’t change their dangerous and selfish ways to help
preserve our planet. While other species don’t do anything to harm the Earth we
are constantly doing so and we claim that there is nothing wrong with what we
are doing. My message to my audience is not that we must throw away our way of
living, but to use the different options that are already in place to not hurt
the Earth even more than it already is. Just like people can eat anything they
want and stay “healthy”, but they must do so in moderation, so should anything
that can harm the Earth. We know that one of the main sources of oil that we
use every day is gas for our car, a solution would be to use more public
transportation if you can by limiting the amount of petroleum that is expelled
into the atmosphere. This way there are les oil companies taping into the ocean
and thus possibly preventing another major oil spill like the Gulf Oil Spill of
2010 that is estimated to have killed or injured around 82,000 birds, 6,000 sea
turtles, and 25,900 marine mammals. The way that I plan of reaching my audience
is by publishing my website onto the internet and adding articles or posts that
relate to human’s involvement in environmental issues. This project helps me
with my professional portfolio because I want to become an environmental
scientist and help find new ways to help heal the Earth from all the
catastrophes it has endured. I also want to help people open their eyes and
understand that the first step to a better world starts with us. Scientist can
come up with new ground-breaking technology and research, but it means little
to nothing if why they are trying to fix a problem people are just adding to
it.
My website with
have links to recent news concerning the issues of oil contamination and how
oil companies are treating the environment. I will also include links to
different articles so that my audience can be better informed about the history
of oil pollution and how many times they don’t even know how extensive and
powerful the oil company is. There will be a page that is dedicated to artist
and activist who are fighting for a better, cleaner, and healthier world. I
will also be including pictures and artwork of the environment and the
different species and habitats that are affected by us humans. I will also have
a page that shows everyday steps and actions people can take to lessen their
environmental footprints that they leave behind.
What many people
don’t know past the pictures of birds covered in oil on the beaches is that oil
is a compound that is very slowly dissolved because of its heavily concentrated.
When there is an oil spill in the ocean, like the Gulf Oil Spill of 2010, much
of the oil is never cleaned up and travels throughout the ocean contaminating
other marine life and habitats. Oil spills don’t just affect the marine life,
but us as humans and the natural ecosystem that we live in. Oil spills
contaminate the ocean waters and even though it spreads out to be a thin layer
of oil it can break apart and infect natural fresh bodies of water which we
collect to drink. What people don’t realize is that much more than just the
fishes and the turtles are hurt and killed because of oil spills, but also
whole ecosystems that are essential to all life. There is a natural food chain
that is in place and we are ripping it apart by killing the crabs and oysters
and starfish all the other marine life at the bottom of the ocean. This is
where my main point comes in, that if something hundreds of feet below sea
level can be affected by something we do then it is a major problem that must
be fixed because while we are hurting them, they do nothing to hurt us. One
thing that people don’t want to see as a reality is that without humans the
Earth and all its species will live on happily without us, and yet we cannot
live without them. This shows how important the Earth and all its species are
to us and how little we value them. Instead of just taking and taking and
leaving behind a footprint of waste and disaster, we should be looking into
ways to create something positive from all that we take so that we can
eventually have a better future.
Artists:
Nils-Udo
Nils
Udo is a German artist who, through his artwork showed a possible utopia which
we can have if we tried to create it by changing our way of life.
Mark Dorf
Mark Dorf is a photographer who works in New York City. He
uses his photos to portray a message of science, nature and technology and how
they work together. In his latest series Transposition, he sends the message
that nature and people are connected and that one works and should nourish the
other.
Aida Sulova
Aida Sulova is a Kyrgyz street artist who designs on street
garbage cans. Her message is that everything that we create that is waste and
throw into the world will eventually come back to us as source of karma.
Chris Jordan
Chris Jordan is a photographer and in his series Midway he
talked about how human waste is affecting the animals in nature. Specifically,
how hundreds of parent animals take human waste and mistaken it for food and
give it to their young and they end up dying from the waste.
Andy Goldsworthy
Andy Goldsworthy is a British sculptor who create are using
raw natural materials. He does this to insinuate a cause and effect method that
everything dies, but at the same time everything is beautiful and should be
preserved.
Citations:
“10
Simple Ways to Use Less Oil.” Greenpeace International, 6 July 2010,
www.greenpeace.org/archive-international/en/campaigns/climate-change/10-simple-ways-to-use-less-oil/blog/12883/.
“A
DEADLY TOLL: THE GULF OIL SPILL AND THE UNFOLDING WILDLIFE DISASTER.” A Deadly Toll, Center for Biological Diversity, Apr. 2011,
www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/energy/dirty_energy_development/oil_and_gas/gulf_oil_spill/a_deadly_toll.html.
Heron, S.F. “How Does an Oil Spill Affect The
Environment?” Sciencing, 24 Apr. 2017,
sciencing.com/oil-spill-affect-environment-4616883.html.
“How
Oil Harms Animals and Plants in Marine Environments.” Office of Response and Restoration,
response.restoration.noaa.gov/oil-and-chemical-spills/oil-spills/how-oil-harms-animals-and-plants-marine-environments.html.
Megan. “20 Ways to Reduce Your Dependence
on Oil | Care2 Healthy Living.” Healthy
Living, 31 Jan. 2010,
www.care2.com/greenliving/20-ways-to-reduce-your-dependence-on-oil.html.
“Oil
Pollution Act (OPA) and Federal Facilities.” EPA,
Environmental Protection Agency, 29 Jan. 2018,
www.epa.gov/enforcement/oil-pollution-act-opa-and-federal-facilities#Federal%20Facility%20Responsibilities%20Under%20the%20Oil%20Pollution%20Prevention%20Program.
“What
Is Oil Used For?” ConocoPhillips,
alaska.conocophillips.com/what-we-do/oil-production/what-is-oil-used-for/.
Presentation
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