The Terrible Oil Leak

I think that not even the most pessimistic of all science writers can say with certainty what the medium- and long-term effects of the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico will be. The millions of gallons that are sprouting to the surface have an immediate effect, of course: they are ruining beaches, reefs, flora and fauna. What about the plants that are absorbing this oil? How will they process it? What about the sea and land animals that eat these plants? What result will the oil have on their bodies? What will be the long-term effects on humans who eat or simply interact with these animals and plants?

I don’t like pessimistic environments, but no one can deny the writing on the wall. Furthermore, in addition to the worst environmental disaster of the petroleum era, other questions that humanity should try to deal with quickly are arising. If a simple well, just one, that is daily producing a large but ultimately limited quantity of oil can cause such problems, what must be happening to the environment due to all the carbon monoxide produced by all the motors that consume oil from all the wells of the world since this commercial exploitation by means of internal combustion motors began?

I think that global warming, as publicized, is just a small example of what we are causing. The first vehicles that moved by oil came into existence a little more than a hundred years ago. It was then that their “smoke” began to contaminate the atmosphere. What will be the long-term effect of this on all life on the planet? Perhaps because at this moment it is still not evident, because it is not visible, could it be that the sequel will last for hundreds or even thousands of years? Could it slowly be producing a mutation in men or preparing the way for new and terrible sicknesses, which will keep increasing little by little without us connecting them with this, without being able to realize or foresee it?

This is uncharted territory. No one knows what could be happening. We don’t know from the slow change that it could be producing something that will affect not only the human race but all life on the planet. We did not know the problems of the industrial use of lead until relatively recently. A good example of what can affect things in the short and long-term is the use of tobacco. In the past, people smoked freely, and no one had the slightest idea of the harm that it would cause. It was scarcely forty years ago that someone sounded the alarm (to which many idiots still don’t pay attention and continue smoking). Tobacco smoke only enters the lungs of those who are smoking and who are nearby; the carbon monoxide of motors is mixed with the air we breathe and travels around the world without borders holding it back.

What will be the result for all living beings in fifty or one hundred years . . . and in a thousand? Multiply the total amount of oil that is spilling in the Gulf of Mexico by all the oil wells in the world and convert it into smoke. This is what we are doing to the planet.