Sorry about that oil gusher thingy in the gulf

If you drive a car that runs on gasoline or buy groceries that were trucked halfway across the country, or buy anything imported or wrapped in plastic, then you share part of the blame for the undersea oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico. Your appetite for oil, plus mine, plus that of millions of other citizens aggregated together is what allows oil companies like BP to earn billions of dollars on risky ventures. Both our society and our economy are addicted to oil, and like any other addict, we are suffering the ill effects of our addiction.

We will be freed from our oil addiction; it's only a matter of time. The question is will we check into rehab now, or wait for macroeconomic forces to make us go cold turkey when oil demand outstrips oil supply.

Below is a letter to the editor originally published in the Beaufort Gazette in South Carolina. I saw it republished in the New York Times by columnist Thomas Friedman. It's worth republishing again and again, in my humble opinion:

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To the editor:

I'd like to join the blame game that has come to define our national approach to the ongoing environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

This isn't the fault of BP or Transocean. It's not the government's fault. It's my fault. I'm the one to blame and I'm sorry.

It's my fault because I haven't digested the world's in-your-face hints that maybe I ought to think about the future and change the unsustainable way I live my life.

If the geopolitical, economic, and technological shifts of the 1990s didn't do it; if the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, didn't do it; if the current economic crisis didn't do it; perhaps this oil spill will be the catalyst for me, as a citizen, to wean myself off of my petroleum-based lifestyle.

"Citizen" is the key word. It's what we do as individuals that counts.

For those on the left, government regulation will not solve this problem. Government's role should be to create an environment of opportunity that taps into the innovation and entrepreneurialism that define us as Americans.

For those on the right, if you want less government and taxes, then decide what you'll give up and what you'll contribute.

Here's the bottom line: If we want to end our oil addiction, we, as citizens, need to pony up -- bike to work, plant a garden, do something.

The oil spill is my fault. I'm sorry. I haven't done my part. Now I have to convince my wife to give up her SUV.

Mark Mykleby

Beaufort

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/opinion/13friedman.html
http://www.islandpacket.com/2010/06/08/1265386/oil-spill-blame-game-needs-to.html
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