In the few days since TEDxOilSpill, the giant chunks of information -ideas, numbers, charts, graphs, emotions- have had some time to simmer in my head with all of the other business up there. Now, themes are emerging.
I’ll write more about individual sessions soon, but here are the big themes -for me, at least- from Monday:
1. Give what you are. There is a sense of frustration that there is nothing for most people to do about the oil spill. We can all curtail our future oil use, call our congresspeople and ask to stop subsidies to oil companies and instead subsidize infrastructure for clean energy. But, as for what is happening right now, no one who isn’t working for BP can get within a hundred feet of cleanup sites, cleaning birds is best left to people who know what they’re doing, and the majority of people in the world are not brilliant engineers with intimate knowledge of deep water wells and how to repair them. So, what is a compassionate and concerned / irate / helpless-feeling person to do? The only answer there can be is to give what you are. If you make art, make art about it. If you write, write about it. If you do business, do your business conscientiously. If you raise kids, raise kids who will do better than we have. (A moment from Dave Troy’s opening remarks set the tone for the day: There are no grownups around to fix this. We are the grownups.) Raise the bar for conscientious behavior.
So, I’m starting to think more about what I am and what I know. I know writing and yoga and cute shoes. On the train ride home, I was talking with a student who has been in my classes many times. He said, “You advise people every day.” The statement caught me off guard, and I tried to downplay it; after all, I just lead people through what they already know. “You advise people,” he told me again. I end every class by thanking my students for being my teachers. Sometimes they teach me things on the mat, sometimes on a train. Now, what else do I have to give, and how can I use it to make my world, this world, better, happier, and maybe even funkier while I’m at it?
Photo: Duncan Davidson, TEDxOilSpill Expedition. Fishing boat covered in oil.
2. People are not evil. Even among a group of intelligent, balanced people, there is still some rumbling about evil corporations and their officers. I am certain that with the exception of a few serial killers and tyrants, the overwhelming majority of people are not evil. Unfortunately, though, the overwhelming majority of people have bad ideas, some worse than others. I refuse to believe that there are oil company executives waking up before their alarms every morning, hopping out of their evil beds, cracking their evil necks, and saying aloud, “How many millions of people can I endanger today?” Or, that they are sitting around conference tables saying, “Hey, you know what really pisses me off? The Gulf of Mexico. And pelicans. FUCK pelicans. Let’s build an rig that might explode.”
Rather, people do what they think is right. For some people, that means climbing the corporate ladder, and making as much money as possible for themselves and for their company, no matter what. Their success is measured by money, so if there is lots of money, there is lots of right. Right? People -you, me, and everyone- tell themselves all sorts of ridiculous stories to get the world to fit into whatever “right” is. That story could be anything from, “He’s just big-boned,” to “There’s no way anything will go wrong. It hasn’t yet.” Even when presented with overwhelming evidence to the contrary, people don’t want to let go of their idea of right. How many people have that friend who talks all about their wonderful marriage, when it’s obvious their spouse is running around? Everyone has blinders.
People are not evil, but people are delusional, and we pretty much have to be to get by. Related to this idea is the delusional notion that businesses have an obligation to be responsible. This is pointless rhetoric. A for-profit business has one mission: to make a profit. This is neither bad, nor good. It’s just profit. Corporations certainly should be responsible; it would make the world better. Of course, lots of corporations are responsible and ethical and still make big profits (and the definitions of responsible and ethical vary), but they are not obligated to do so. Yelling and screaming about a BP conspiracy is a waste of time. OF COURSE they’re covering stuff up. Transparency doesn’t make them profitable. Obfuscation does. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s marketing and public relations. It’s also appalling, but let’s recognize it for what it is: it is a business fulfilling its mission. Seen that way, there is more power to the people. Poke holes in the facade and show others. The emperor has no clothes, and so forth.
Photo: Kris Krug, TEDxOilSpill Expedition. (Weeks and weeks of leaking oil forms plumes of underwater gas. This gas is burned by large ships at the location of the spill. The ocean is on fire.)
3. What the hell are we thinking? Every president since Carter has talked about energy independence and the need to reduce dependence on foreign oil. Across parties, generally everyone agrees that this is a very good idea, yet our dependence on foreign oil has continued to grow over the past three decades. Presently the U.S. imports 60% of its oil. That means that to achieve independence from foreign oil, given no growth in the rate of consumption, the U.S. would have to increase oil production by 150%. So, let’s talk scale. There are presently 4,000 rigs in the Gulf of Mexico alone, tapping into 32,000 wells. That would mean adding another 6,000 rigs in the Gulf of Mexico alone. Think about that one for a minute. Oil rigs are ten stories tall from the surface of the ocean, and drill thousands of feet below the surface into the sea floor. Six thousand more of those bad boys.
Even if my assumption about proportion is wrong -let’s say that production can be increased dramatically in current rigs- and there need be only a 10% increase in the number of rigs, that is still 400 more rigs popping up out of the Gulf, and 400 more opportunities for disaster, all in search of a finite resource.
Something is awry. The oil industry takes in three billion dollars a year in subsidies from the U.S. government, while there is no headlong charge to create an infrastructure for cleaner energy (Offshore wind and electric cars are imperfect, but exponentially better than what we have now.), .Even though everyone thinks energy independence is a great idea, we continue to spend gobs of money chasing a dangerous, finite resource instead of investing in an infinite and much less dangerous resource. It defies logic.
I started my career working for a non-partisan organization that advocated for public financing of elections. In the twelve years of voting and disasters since, I have developed much stronger feelings about the issue than I had even when I was raising money for it. Unfortunately, while there is no question that our government is bought and sold -it is so ubiquitous that we barely even see it anymore- there is no legislative solution to the problem. The first amendment applies to assholes, too, and some assholes are extremely loud and very persuasive with their bunk.
The only solution I can think of is to continue to ask: What the hell are we thinking? I mean this literally. What are we thinking? Is it true? No, really, is it true – especially if I agree with it? Who said so? Why believe it? And are you ok with it? With this?
Photo: Kris Krug, TEDxOilSpill Expedition. That shiny stuff is oil washing onto the beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
More photos from the expedition are on the TEDxOilSpill site and Flickr.
