As the oil spill continues in the Gulf of Mexico, off the shores of Louisiana, the same few names are mentioned to establish comparisons with other environmental disasters: Exxon Valdez in Alaska (1989), the Santa Barbara Oil Disaster (1969), and sometimes others more distant such as The Amoco Cadiz in France (1978). However, in some seemingly remote parts of the world, oil spills are a weekly occurrence, and have been so for decades. Acquiring a deeper understanding and a more global picture of the damage that off-shore drilling and oil hauling pose to our environment is necessary if we are to reduce our dependency on oil and to increase the immediate necessity for developing greener energies.

 

Oil Spills Across The World

A recent article in the UK’s Guardian exposes the outrageously devastating situation in Nigeria, where “more oil is spilled from the delta's network of terminals, pipes, pumping stations and oil platforms every year than has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico”. The world capital of oil pollution, the Niger delta supplies 40% of all the crude oil the United States imports, thanks to its 606 oilfields. The British article reports that there are more than 300 spills, major and minor, a year. Although it is impossible to know exactly how much oil is spilled each year in the Niger delta due to the oil companies’ and the Nigerian government's secrecies, one report calculated in 2006 that "up to 1.5m tons of oil – 50 times the pollution unleashed in the Exxon Valdez tanker disaster in Alaska – has been spilled in the delta over the past half century".

This map shows the 439 reported oil spills of ten metric tons or more from tankers and barges between 1989 and 2007. Source: NGM Maps

Whether the oil companies or the Nigerian government, or both, are to blame for the spills, the lack of proper pipeline maintenance, the slow response to accidents and the disregard to the loss of human lives and the incommensurable damage to the environment, the fact is that these worldwide spills are much more common than most Americans think. The Montara wellhead oil spill that took place in the Timor Sea off the coast of Australia last year lasted from August 21 to November 3 and spilled from 1.2 to 9 million gallons total, yet received very little attention and coverage from the US media.  Here is a much longer list of oil spills across the world than what we have been hearing daily. 

Reduce Our Dependancy On Oil

More oil-related disasters are bound to reoccur, as oil companies need to dig deeper to find oil, thus making the possibility to swiftly and adequately address any accident more and more difficult. The only way to effectively avoid these disasters is to invest into the development of greener energies and to reduce our reliance on oil-based products.

Obviously, the task is huge, and government initiatives and programs are needed. But grassroots actions by us, normal citizens, can have a real, positive impact on our environment. Some examples of what we can all do are:

• Stopping using plastic water bottles and disposable plastic grocery bags;
• Banning Styrofoam take-out containers for life;
• Buying plastic-free products (oil is used in plastic packaging, containers but also in personal care products, synthetic fabrics, etc);
• Recycling plastics as much as we can: recycling means that less new oil-based products will be manufactured;
• Using public transportations and/or ride your bicycle as often as we can;
• Driving (buying or renting) hybrid vehicles, which consume less oil-derived gas than their conventional counterparts;
• Contacting our state assembly members, senators, and governors and voicing our concerns over off-shore drilling, opposing bills that might endanger our oceans, etc;

Just as many social rights battles have been fought and won, environmental battles can, too. We only need to be the change we want to see in the world.

 

Photo Credit: A puddle of Venezuelan crude oil. Photograph by Rebecca Hale, National Geographic. Sources: International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation; Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, National Geographic. Keywords: Oil Spill, Oil Dependency, Reducing our Dependency on Oil, BP Oil Spill, Green Energy, Alternative Fuels.  

JustLiveGreener brings you in depth-information about environmental issues as well as tips for a greener, more eco-friendly way of living that respects nature while enhancing quality of life.