BP Punishment Breeds Creativity
While there might be a massive loss of life sweeping over the gulf in crude oil form, the more creative juices are flowing in the blogosphere, from both readers and the authors who are providing platforms. Slate‘s call last week for readers comments and thoughts on how to punish BP apparently generated about 120 comments and suggestions. Some sought vengeance, some sought criminal prosecution, but people are in “angry and vindictive” moods according to Daniel Gross. Hopefully we can move Beyond Pessimism into something more constructive. But after having spoken to someone down south involved in the clean up, it is tragic beyond belief and since much of the media coverage is still focused on a) what went wrong b) why they can’t stop the spill; we are still missing c) what does it look like down there now and what will it look like for years to come?
Ranging from violence–hitting executives with oily fish, (the Quentin Tarantino approach) to gussying ourselves up after a breakup– leaving that bad BP boyfriend behind (the glamour mag approach), the suggestions for punishment indicate creative, intelligent and heartfelt concerns about how we might deal with BP once the oil stops gushing. How we move beyond behavior that inherently involves high risk, low probability disasters, and that is we, as in all of us, is another question. That would require us to lose the vindictive spirit and focus on how we might, for example, do all those retrofits and behavior changes that might lessen the massive thirst that BP quenches. Some suggestions from Slate readers asked BP to fund renewable energy research and development in a dollar for dollar match on what they pay in damages. I love this suggestion.
Ideas are clearly flowing. But is the political will, the political creativity up for the challenge? Until then, welcome to the world of ideas…and the blogosphere.
