Come on People. We Need to Look at Ourselves.

It’s clear that the impact of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill will burden our economy and our environment for a very long time. This catastrophe has resulted in fingers being pointed, tempers being tested and an onslaught of criticism. While I agree that BP has caused a great fiasco and should be held accountable, I think that the lopsided amount of blame the London based company is receiving is not completely fair.

Yes, BP has caused unmatched devastation to the gulf and placed a burden on the area’s workforce and economy that will last for years. BP should be held responsible and mandates being set in place right now to hold the company responsible are warranted.

But calls to “Boycott BP” and place the blame solely on the company are completely reactionary and do nothing to address the real cause of this tragedy, our government’s lack of real regulation of the energy industry and it’s continuation of not tapping into our natural resources and providing clean energy. The time is past due for our government to invest in the ample opportunities for clean energy in our own backyard.  Our government is partly to blame too.

What really puzzles me is that while the American public is busy pointing fingers at BP and voicing outrage over the disaster, we have yet to see our citizenry admit that we too are at fault.

For years we have known about the dangers of oil exploration and the need to invest in clean energy. We have also been educated on the need to conserve. But for some reason the American public appears blind to the fact that we let this happen.

Not only do we pour billions of dollars into the bank accounts of these companies each year and continue to ignore the call to conserve, but we keep electing people, both Democrat and Republican, that have failed repeatedly to implement an aggressive energy conservation and investment policy that will protect our resources and move us toward energy independence and clean energy use.

Don’t get me wrong. I am angry at BP too and demand that they be held accountable, but it’s time for the American people to demand that our government finally take on our energy crisis and that they implement real energy and environmental reforms. It’s also time for the American people to step up to the plate and take on an aggressive role in making this happen by changing the way we treat the environment and by changing the way we cast our votes at the ballot box.