31 days after the explosion of the BP oil rigger there is still oil pouring into the gulf of Mexico.
There is to much of the blame game going around, rather I want to be optimistic and hope that this disaster (which is more of a f*** up that could of been avoided by stronger government regulations, more integrity on the corporations part, and so on) will be a turning point in what I will call the sustainability movement.
The sustainability movement is a culmination of individuals, organizations, governments (some), non-for profits, NGO's, businesses, and corporations (some) all working with a perspective on the interconnectedness of life and interwoven nature of the world's injustices. They deny capitalism that merely enlarges the gulf between the rich and the poor, the work for peace over war, and they are stewards of the environment rather than destroying and pillaging human's life sources for the economic gain of a few.
Every movement has moments of what social movement theorists call moments of "moral shock". Examples of this are Emmett Till's murder and Rosa Park's refusal to give up her seat on the bus.
The ladder was a calculated act that the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement planned to use as a spark to inspire the bus boycott and advance the movement all together. But the Emmett Till case was a tragedy that was not planned but a direct result of the injustice of civil rights. The Civil Rights movement leaders used the murder of Emmett Till case to display the seriousness and the immorality of the injustice plaguing America at the time. Both of this cases were moments of moral shock that the social movement used to advance the goals of the Civil Rights movement.
All this is to say that I really hope that this disaster will be a moment that we will look back on as a moment of moral shock that set in motion real changes that sustainability movement is working towards. If not, well, what a waste.
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