On the LA Buckt Brigade website I found the iWitness population map very interesting. The map enables community’s members to contribute to the cause of saving the earth, well the start of alerting the right authorities so they can handle the situation accordingly. It makes me think back to how some people believe how one person can’t save or impact the world and this website completely rejects that. It gives power to the people who usually feel powerless and that still want to help with the world. Now the blog does say to talk about something I read so I read a few of the reports left by the members. It left me a little surprised because a majority isn’t verified. Now assuming the reports are true, the population per report wasn’t significant, but the fact that over hundreds of reports of “small” oil spills are reported a month then those “small” oil spills can add up to a “big” oil spill and hurt our environment. What can the effect of leaving these “small” oil spills do to the environment we live in? We should also be concerned about the well-being of the animals, water, air, and food because this all greatly impacts our daily life.
This leaves me to question our talk about environmental justice because if so many reports are reported by the community, then how much more are hidden from our eyes from the oil companies? What justice is given to the people that live nearby? What if the BP oil spill caused us to have a mutation? Where will society draw the line with what we do to the environment and how it affects the lives of other human beings? I fear one day, another tragic environment accident will occur and life in that environment will never be the same. The question is how can I, as a Xavier students prevent this from occurring?
