Sierra Club Organizes Communities to Rally Against BP
On May 12 in Hammilton County (Ohio), hundreds of miles from the Gulf Coast oil disaster, residents gathered at a local BP gas station to protest BP’s failed procedural systems that lead to the oil rig explosion.
Sierra Club organized this day’s gathering in Norwood as part of a massive grassroots movement taking place around the country. Communities are calling for an end to offshore drilling and recognizing the urgent need to move towards a clean energy future.
To show support for change, over 50 protests nationwide are expected this week. Such demonstrations need to continue until we see changes. We must not let this simply be a phase or a fad that BP and other “dirty” industries would like to see swept under the carpet as time goes by and the BP oil spill gets eclipsed by other headlines.
The Gulf Coast oil catastrophe is now one of the largest environmental disasters in United States history, pouring over 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) of crude oil into the gulf every day. But it might not be the last if we don’t demand sustainable changes in how we obtain our energy sources.
In protest, residents, most of whom are Sierra Club members and supporters, shouted and waved signs in front of the Norwood BP gas station. The signs read: “Clean it Up: our Gulf Coast, Our Energy” and “no more drilling”, “clean energy now” and “honk for clean energy,” and called on BP to clean up their mess.
Part of the rally also included residents who used black plastic and yellow caution tape to stage a mock oil spill in front of the gas station and show why we need a moratorium on off shore drilling.
It’s evident that BP and other oil companies make billions of dollars in profits every year, yet when a disaster happens, they fail to foot the bill to cover the entire cost of a clean-up. Coastal families, businesses, environmental advocacy groups, everyone else seem to have to clean up the mess and pay the monetary and environmental cost.
Families in the Gulf Coast are losing their fishing and tourism jobs because of BP. We need to move America away from crude oil and towards solar and wind energy.
Besides, so long as crude oil companies continue with business as usual, they prevent clean energy initiatives that create green jobs for Americans. So stepping away from “dirty” energy will gives us two advantages: cleaner environment and cleaner jobs.
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