BP Oil Spill Summer Project

So, it's been about a month or so since the end of school and I think I have taken a sufficient enough break that I have decided to get back into it and start working on my summer project. It started with a brief internet searching of current events the top three being: The BP Oil Spill, Van Der Sloot's Arrest and the FIFA World Cup.

Honestly, I have been following the BP Oil Spill since the day it happened. I had always been a supporter of BP because of BP Wind and BP Solar two of the largest green energy companies in America. I did some research on the Deep Water Horizon rig and it is actually owned by Halliburton (yeah, the Pelican Brief and all), so it was no shock to me to hear that it had been poorly managed prior to BP renting the rig. As, time went on and reports went from 100,000 gallons a day to 2million gallons a day to 4 million gallons a day to 100 million gallons a day, I started to get sick. BP as poorly managed this entire situation and no matter how much we complain about it right now what is done is done.

For all of those boycotting BP, I did some more research. First, BP is a franchised owned company meaning by boycotting BP you are not really in fact hurting the company as much as all the small local owners. They did not necessarily have a part in BP's greed that lead to this disaster and it is not truly fair to them to boycott the company as a whole. One of my neighbors has a BP franchise and was already in a tough financial situation prior to this disaster. It is likely that if it continues she may face even more hardship due to something that was completely out of her control. British Petroleum is to blame for this disaster and should be dealt with at a higher level then boycotts of local stations.

I was trying to think of ways show the public that the oil spill needs positive support in order to be corrected. There is no way that the average person can step in and stop this spill and people are looking for ways to help  correct a wrong and trying to find an outlet. For those of you in Baltimore, the Aquarium will be looking for volunteers shortly to help care for oil coated birds. Throughout the southern east coast crews are needed to help clean beaches. So, if you are looking for an outlet for your frustration why not take a weekend trip to help in a beach clean up or help clean some oil-coated brown pelicans on your off time.

As for my summer project, I have been doing a lot of research on oil containment and clean-up. I have ordered some Oil Containment Boom that should arrive in a few days and been playing around with some home-recipes for oil containment devices that I have found online. I was thinking about the oil soaked beaches and how they could actually spread up to the Bay and tar balls could wash up on Ocean City rendering the beaches possibly inhabitable for the last half of the summer months. I was thinking about "oil containment clothing" and possibly protection devices. We will see where this will go.