from Hacker News

Trinidadian fishers film ‘half-hearted’ oil spill clean-up

by x14km2d on 8/13/21, 2:29 PM with 35 comments

  • by warent on 8/13/21, 3:24 PM

    I can't fathom how anybody still advocates for this industry unless they're getting filthy rich off it. For example I always see overlap in climate change denial and advocacy for these fuel industries. Like, okay fine, deny climate change science, but how can you still argue that this crap is fine for the environment? You want polluted waters, polluted air, polluted everything?

    I'll probably be flagged for this post as it contributes nothing, it's just an emotional outburst, but sometimes man I just feel hopeless, helpless, and have no idea what to do when humans are just short-sighted apes.

  • by 11235813213455 on 8/13/21, 3:20 PM

    It's definitely bad, but my view on this is to tackle also the problem at the source: cars. gas or even electric cars which have a pollution and carbon impact about the same magnitude. We must de-motorize the world, 80% of people in developed countries live in cities yet 95% household have cars, that's way too much. We must change people lifestyles on a global scale. When I see people stay in their parked cars with their engine and radiators maxed out for AC, when I'm riding among this perpetual dense traffic of cars , when I still hear them the night, I get the same reaction as this fisherman.

  • by djrogers on 8/13/21, 5:25 PM

    FTA: " A freedom of information request carried out in April by FFOS revealed there have been 498 reported oil spills on land and at sea since the beginning of 2018.

    There have been no resulting prosecutions or fines by Trinidad and Tobago authorities. "

    This is disgusting. I'll set aside the arguments against the petrochem industry, which are many, obvious, and unfortunately prone to extremist controversy.

    What I'm truly saddened by here is the obvious level of corruption here. While oil extraction and transport will never be 100% clean, it's demonstrably possible for it to be 1000x better than this, but without a government willing to stand up and force these jackholes to pay for their externalities, it's not gonna happen in places like this.

    Maybe an international coalition is needed to fine, punish, and regulate oil extraction and transport? In practice that would probably be US money funding 2nd and 3rd world people to do the work (see UN Peacekeeping forces), but it seems better than no regulation.

  • by anotheryou on 8/13/21, 2:59 PM

    damn, shouldn't be touched bare handed either, right?