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In Saturday’s New York Times, Justin Gillis spoke with several scholars – including Cambridge authors Don Worster (co-editor of our Environmental History series) and Ted Steinberg – on the subject of where the Gulf Oil Spill places on a hierarchy of environmental disasters. Could it really be the worst yet? The consensus seems to be that there is no definitive answer. The depth of our assessment appears to correlate more to a disaster's impact on the lives and livelihood of those affected, and less to the environmental ramifications of the event. Read more over at the NYT for a fascinating take on the “shades and complexities” of natural and man-made environmental disasters. While on the subject, here’s an excerpt from Myrna Santiago’s award-winning The Ecology of Oil: Environment, Labor, and the Mexican Revolution, 1900–1938 - discussing the disastrous social and environmental consequences of oil extraction. This detailed case study finds unique overlaps between labor and environmental concerns, taking a snapshot of history through the lens of the 1938 expropriation debate in Mexico. Santiago argues that oil production generated major historical and environmental transformations in systems of land use which, in turn, revolutionized the social organization of the country.
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In 1973, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act, a program designed to provide for the conservation of plants and animals on the endangered species list. The law made it illegal to harm any of the listed species and legislated against the degradation of their habitat. More recently, the government began looking into using the ESA as an avenue of recouping the vast losses caused by the BP oil spill. As they launch a criminal investigation into whether BP was criminally negligent, the ESA is one of the legal means with which they might be able to subvert the current cap on damages. While this may be beneficial in the short term, Craig Collins, author of Toxic Loopholes: Failures and Future Prospects for Environmental Law, looks at loopholes in the ESA itself to argue for a fundamental realignment of our approach towards how we legislate environmental protection. In the age-old battle between the environment and the economy, Collins asks us to reevaluate our priorities. -------- Endangered Species Act: Noah’s Ark or Titanic? By Craig Collins, Ph.D. California State University East Bay, Environmental Law & Policy The Endangered Species Act is the equivalent of a tiny bandage on a gaping wound. When Congress passed the ESA back in 1973, it was responding to intense public pressure to save a growing number of species from extinction. Groups like Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the World Wildlife Fund raised public awareness and sympathy by showcasing the plight of a small group of cute or charismatic creatures—like pandas, bald eagles and blue whales—whose survival was threatened by human encroachment. This campaign was so effective that the media still portrays the struggle to preserve biodiversity as an altruistic endeavor pressed upon society by tree-hugger environmentalists trying to rescue wildlife from the brink of extinction.
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The Gulf oil spill and the West Virginia mine explosion are two of the biggest tragedies in our recent history. Isn’t it interesting, then, that they share one highly combustible causal factor? Craig Collins, author of Toxic Loopholes: Failures and Future Prospects for Environmental Law, points to methane gas – from its incendiary role in the BP oil spill and the Massey mine explosion to its latent potential for wreaking further havoc. While the slow-moving mass of oil reaches our shores, with new ever-escalating estimates of the gallons spilled being announced, Collins reminds us of the lesser recognized hazards of methane gas and the further damage it can cause. -------- The Grim Reaper of Greenhouse Gases By Craig Collins, Ph.D. California State University East Bay, Environmental Law & Policy Although carbon dioxide is the most talked-about greenhouse gas, we ignore methane at our peril because it may prove to be the deadliest greenhouse gas of all. Unlike CO2, methane is flammable.
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While the Gulf oil slick worsens, still spilling from a capsized wellhead and pressing ever closer to coastline towns, the blame game has exploded across the public sphere. Craig Collins, author of Toxic Loopholes: Failures and Future Prospects for Environmental Law, weighs in on the politicking to offer his vision of why this crisis demands a reconsideration of America’s heavy reliance on petroleum – economically, environmentally, and morally.
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