I took time on Jan. 27 to travel to Santa Barbara and attend the 50 Years After the Santa Barbara Oil Spill: A Call to Action event at the Arlington Theater, thinking I might learn something. Sadly, I watched a spectacle that evolved into a We Hate President Trump Festival. Speaker after speaker condemned various forms of energy production but offered no alternatives as to how our society should replace our energy needs, product delivery system, or tax base. Nope. It was just an attack on something that happened 50 years ago.
Outside, in the theater entryway, a couple of dozen booths also offered nothing new. It appeared to be more of a fundraising effort. I did see one man outside on the sidewalk with a table with photos of many forms of sea life, which inhabit offshore oil rigs. Apparently this man, with decades of diving experience under the rigs, was not allowed inside the theater. I had to wonder: If these oil rigs are so toxic to the environment, how is it that they are so rich in living marine resources?
Santa Barbara: This event was an embarrassing waste of time. I have to wonder too: Did the attendees walk, ride bikes, or drive to the event?
Steven L. Rebuck
San Luis Obispo
This article appears in Jan 31 – Feb 10, 2019.
It offered nothing… That’s because there is no solution under capitalism and liberal democracy. The Western world order, liberal democratic capitalism, is inherently not capable of dealing with the environmental destruction it causes. Green consumerism is pure ideology, it basically exists to make rich people feel better about themselves. Only a radically restructured society can offer a sustainable existence on earth but most people are too concerned with the immediate task of making ends meet and feeding their families while the comfortable wealthy are fully willing to commit genocide to maintain their positions.