As I write this we have just learned that BP’s latest effort to stop the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has not been successful.  The so-called “Top Kill” maneuver killed some hope but not much else.  For more than 40 days and nights the oil has poured out of the well with no end in sight.

One result has been the ramping up of one of our favorite national pastimes  --  The Blame Game.  Virtually everyone plays.  It’s simple – just pick your favorite villain and then pick on them.  It could be an oil company, a government regulator or incompetent managers on the oil rig.  The Blame Game is particularly popular among politicians.  Since our politicians often seem that they are weaned on the sour milk of human unkindness they are more experienced and competent at the Blame Game than the rest of us.  But lack of experience hardly deters anyone from playing.  It appears that no-one has the answer to solving this crisis.  Therefore, everyone is competent to comment.  The resulting din of dumb ideas from self-appointed experts would be comical if the stakes were not so high.

Proponents of offshore drilling are on everyone’s lists.  Critics contend that profits trump safety and the BP spill is just the latest in a series of inevitable disasters.  President Barack Obama is also an easy target.  Calling the spill “Obama’s Katrina” the President’s detractors have been quick to call for more action, including a federal takeover.  He is also called to task for his recent decision in favor of opening up more offshore areas to drilling.  

Needless to say, BP and other oil companies are also on the receiving end.  They are portrayed as amoral profit-hunting, environment-destroying, lying incompetents.  Gouging enormous profits from their activities, they are everyone’s bad guys.  They may have earned much of this hatred but they certainly have reason to claim the fault is not theirs alone.  

Environmentalists are also on the receiving end of a good deal of invective.  They are blamed for forcing oil drillers to go deep offshore.  The reason?  Closing down drilling and plans for more exploration in wilderness areas like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  Some Blame Gamers contend that without the interference of environmentalists we would not be in our present predicament.  Right.

So who is to blame?  At whose doorstep do we dump the responsibility for what promises to be the nations’ worst-ever oil spill?  Oil companies?  Environmentalists?  Dysfunctional government?

The reality is that we all have share in the responsibility.  Consider our profligate use of petroleum, more per capita than any other nation.  Fueling our lifestyles and standard of living is a mindless activity for many of us.  Despite the current catastrophe there is no reason to believe we have learned our lesson or that we will modify our energy consumption behaviors in any meaningful way.  We compound our complicity every time we turn the key on our SUV.  We multiply the damage when leave the AC on when we are away on a weekend vacation.  We make more spills inevitable when we choose the energy-intensive appliance over the Energy Star model.  Petroleum is an incredibly toxic substance.  Finding it, extracting it, refining it and transporting it are inherently filthy and dangerous activities.  We keep asking for more and, unfortunately our history of supporting, subsidizing and protecting oil companies means we continue to get more. 

We are now facing our nation’s worst ever oil spill.  This well has now leaked much more oil than the Exxon Valdez and it might be just getting started.  All of this for the output of this 5,000 foot deep oil well.  According to ABC News it takes only 5 minutes to burn through the oil produced in a day by the BP well.  It’s a flash in the pan.  We will be living with it for generations.

WHAT WE CAN DO

The past several years have seen a slow but perceptible movement in the direction of energy conservation and renewable energy deployment.  It is no longer all that unusual to see a house roof covered with solar panels.  Hillsides in many parts of the nation are sprouting gaggles of industrial scale wind turbines.  Most utilities offer rebates or coupons for compact fluorescent lightbulbs.  Federal and state tax credits are available and installers of commercial scale solar and wind generation are now offering many new purchase/lease/finance options.  Solar water heating is one major first move into an energy-efficient lifestyle.  With the available incentives a home owner can invest less than $1,500 after rebates and tax credits.  The home’s energy bill will immediately be reduced somewhere around 40%.  After a few years the home’s hot water bill will be zero.

Almost none of us can do all of these at once.  Almost all of us can do at least one of these now.  Even just replacing one light bulb is a start. This is a positive action, likely to produce more positive actions.   Time for us to stop shifting the blame and to start taking the credit.

If you want to find out more here is a link to the first page of a Google search for “Use Less Energy.”  This page has ten links.  The Google search turned up 59,100,000 results.  Definitely something for everybody.