The Evolution of Environmentalism: Is Economics a Driving Force?

           April 20^th 2010 BP’s oil rig exploded and since then, the oil spill has been the direct result of death and devastation all over the gulf coast. The white house has called this one of the worst environmental disasters that the United States has ever faced. Spilling out possibly 5,000 barrels oil a day into the ocean. With the oil rig capped, BP has been putting their efforts toward restoring the gulf coast. They have announced a 500 million dollar commitment over a 10 year period to create the GRI, which is a research program that will investigate the impacts of the oil spill on the ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico and affected surrounding areas. That is only one of the many ways that BP has promised to help restore the Gulf Coast. So will these financially commitment affect their business? BP has already declared plans to sell up to 30 million dollars in assets and create a smaller business. On BP’s official website, there are statistics and charts to inform the public where they are placing their funds to help the cleanup. It states that 8 billion dollars has been spent in claims and payments, over 22,000 people deployed for cleanup, and over 1,000 vessels and 25 aircrafts mobilized to work in the Gulf Coast cleanup. Not only has BP financially suffered, but there are hundreds of local businesses affected by this disaster as well. Unemployment has significantly increased along the Gulf coast since the explosion. This disaster has effected many businesses, people, and wildlife(which will be discussed in a later blog) and even with all of BP’s efforts there is still a drastic amount of work still to be done.