Spills are inevitable, especially when you are clumsy. But even when you are careful, they always have a chance of occurring. When it's things as simple as water or a cell phone, you can easily move on from an accident. Yet when materials are dangerous or toxic, the costs are far higher.
The oil spill last week in Santa Barbara was as predictable as my own personal spills. As careful as oil companies may be (with spills being shockingly frequent), they are only a matter of time. But the costs are far higher: to life, to communities, and to general health.
As residents of industrialized countries, we demand lifestyles that fossil fuel companies say they are simply making possible. We are all caught up in the web of sin that sees oil extraction and ensuring accidents as a necessary sacrifice. Some of us, especially in the Los Angeles area, have contributed more to this situation than others. Yet we are all called to respond in ways that give healthier alternatives a better chance.
Some may seek to reduce their demand in their homes or church communities, all the while educating their neighbors. Others are going so far as to sign a pledge of resistance to end fracking, which accounts for half of all new oil extraction in California today. Nonviolent direct action forces those who see spills as a necessary cost to doing business to listen, however begrudgingly, to those who know there is a better way. As people seeking to participate in God's work for the Divine Commonwealth, we should know this better than others.
While oil extraction endures, it threatens life. Spills are inevitable, unless we put a stop to extraction itself. It would make things so much easier for our planet, too, when the inevitable happens. I think even I could clean up water, wind, and sunlight.
Spilling hope,
Timothy Murphy
Executive Director