During the Pearl Jam show at Lollapalooza, Eddie Vedder introduced a new song that he said was going out to their friends at BP/Amoco. Such a statement created a uproar of boos from the audience. You see, BP (British Petroleum) are preparing to dump 1,584 pounds of ammonia and 4,925 pounds of industrial solids from an oil refinery in Indiana into Lake Michigan. Every day! Needless to say, folks up here are a little upset.
For a long time, I sought out BP because I believed them to be more environmentally friendly as well as less dependent on oil from the Middle East. Now, I find myself avoiding it. And perhaps you should to. At least take a look at the Protect Our Lake website or listen to the radio ad. And if you find yourself strongly against BP’s future plans, there is an online petition.
It should also be needless to say that Mr. Vedder was being facetious. The song turned about to be called “Don’t Go BP Amoco”.
Hayden, I love this post. I have gotten a lot of strange looks over the years over my adamant refusal to buy gas from Exxon. Having spent three years in Alaska I have been close to the environmental damage caused by giant oil companies. Good for you and Pearl Jam for sticking up for Lake Michigan!
The problem is that almost EVERYTHING comes from either Exxon or BP. So I will say this for BP, they pioneered the development of a tanker that was virtually spill proof. They spent billions to become the first company to overhaul their entire oil tanker fleet with triple haul tankers. So perhaps its Exxon’s turn, they can pioneer a way to clean up after BP and help Lake Michigan or we can freakin’ get over driving and stop letting both these companies continue to destroy our natural resources.
Ok i will be stepping down off my soapbox now…
Comment by sUMMMER — August 23, 2007 @ 8:19 am
Today BP bowed to pressure and said that it won’t dump more pollutants into Lake Michigan than it already does. So it seems that they do still have some environmental conscious or that people’s boycotts might really have an impact even on a large business. Here’s the story from the Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-web_bp-permitaug24,0,3232168.story?coll=chi_business_util. It took me a while to find, but here’s the info BP posted on their website: http://whiting.bp.com/go/doc/1550/169779/
I wonder what it would be like if there were more bikes than cars on the road. It’s a funny, but not bad, picture. Maybe we should work on inventing gear to make bikes more bearable in rain and cold.
Comment by Apryl — August 23, 2007 @ 10:53 pm