Oily mess

The oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico has resulted in another catastrophic oil spill the likes of which have been unmatched since the Exxon Valdez tanker spill off the coast of Alaska on March 24, 1989. But it's unlikely that they can avert oil spills in future since there is always the risk of another oil rig exploding or an oil tanker hitting the rocks no matter how detailed the precautionary measures taken. All of which is even more convincing evidence of why we need to move away from reliance on fossil fuels as an energy source and explore and develop renewable energy sources such as solar, wind or ocean wave power. There will always be industrial uses for oil in plastics and fertilizers, but the bulk of oil consumed today is to supply our energy demand. Fossil fuel has been around for only a short 2 centuries, on an industrial scale at least, and the damage it has wrought on the environment has been nothing but short of catastrophic. It threatens our very survival as a species. For ancient fuel we have sacrificed clean air, clean environment for the smoggy choke of our cities. The costs in terms of health care and damage to the environment alone would make economic sense not to use oil as an energy source or at least to move away from oil immediately. With the age of the internet where the world wide web is a treasure trove of information and research tools, one hopes that research and development of renewable energy sources, especially solar power and its storage capabilities, will be greatly enhanced. Imagine waking up every morning to breath clean, pure air! No carbon monoxide emissions, no combustion engine produced CO2 added to the greenhouse effect, cars running on highly efficient solar panels with batteries to store enough solar power for a 100km drive! Will this become a reality for our children? Let's do it. We can, we can, we can.