We’ve written some harsh words in the past about offshore oil drilling. But it’s been hard to find the right words for what’s happening in the Gulf of Mexico at the moment.

At the time of this post, the BP oil spill has extended towards Florida, and we’re starting to see the impact of the oil on the Louisiana coastline and ocean wildlife.

It’s hard to get your mind around the massive scale of this disaster, but it starts to become clearer when you superimpose the Gulf spill over your local area and see how far it reaches.

And, at the time of this post, BP doesn’t seem to be anywhere near stopping it.

Of course, according to drill-baby-drill Sarah Palin, this is all the environmentalists’ fault:

“Extreme deep water drilling is not the preferred choice to meet our country’s energy needs, but your protests and lawsuits and lies about onshore and shallow water drilling have locked up safer areas. It’s catching up with you,” Palin tells environmentalists. “The tragic, unprecedented deep water Gulf oil spill proves it.”

Because of course, dear Sarah must think it impossible for a spill of this magnitude to ever happen close to shore… never mind BP’s horrible safety record in the past, or the 200,000 gallons of crude oil that were dumped near Palin’s stomping grounds in Alaska. Palin also claims the USA shouldn’t trust foreign companies to handle American oil. Wonder what her husband thinks of that - after all, he worked for BP for eighteen years!

While the political bickering and corporate waffling continues, and the oil continues to flow, the rest of us on the planet are starting to get very, very pissed off: because nothing is being done, and there is nothing that most of us can do besides write angry letters.

One such angry person started a Twitter account under the name @BPGlobalPR, and began posting bitterly cynical messages that appear to be coming from BP Public Relations. He recently released a message to the media explaining his actions:

Why has this caught on? I think it’s because people can smell the bullshit and sometimes laughing at it feels better than getting angry or depressed over it. At the very least, it’s a welcome break from that routine. The reason @BPGlobalPR continues to grow is because BP continues to spew their bullshit.

[…]

You know the best way to get the public to respect your brand? Have a respectable brand.

Go read the full message here - it is well worth your time, and does a great job of capturing the frustration and helplessness that we feel in the face of this catastrophe.

Perhaps the worst is knowing that no matter how much BP is required to pay, no matter who is held accountable, there is no amount of money that can repair the ecosystems, save the wildlife, or restore peoples’ livelihoods.

This spill is the start of something. It’s already the biggest environmental disaster in history, and it is still growing.

Combined with the coming climate changes, it could be the worst wake-up call we’ve ever received.

It could also be a chance to make some changes that matter, now, while peoples’ eyes are finally opening.

Take that anger, take that frustration; let’s turn this into something good. Corporations are given power by human laws - we should be able to change those laws. We should be able to keep this from happening again. Stay informed on what’s happening; sign up to Seize BP’s Assets, join Protest BP on Facebook. Let us make an example of them to the rest of Big Oil. And demand from your politicians that you want clean energy, safely obtained.

And tell someone else to do the same.

But we’re uncomfortably aware that every bit of sashimi we eat is from one less fish in the ocean. Overfishing, collapsing fisheries, overpopulation, pollution and unsustainable practices can put a bad taste in your mouth.

At seachoice.org you can find out which fishes are caught sustainably, which are in danger, and which to avoid due to high mercury and PCB levels. You can also download a handy little wallet card to bring to restaurants and supermarkets - so next time you’ll know to skip the sea bass, but go for the Arctic char!

Hey, isn’t this great news:

Oil spills in Arctic ice may be easier to clean than those in open water, according to research funded by oil companies that are seeking offshore exploration in federal waters….

…The researchers said they conducted the test by discharging thousands of gallons of crude oil in broken and slushy ice off the northern coast of Norway - such experiments have never been approved in U.S. waters.

Wait a minute… isn’t polar ice melting much faster than we initially thought? And the biggest emissions producers in the world are still dragging their heels about changing their ways?

So at the rate the ice is melting, this study really won’t make that much of a difference in the long run, will it? Thanks, Norway!

Yes, we’re still going to need oil and gas for a while - it is the dominant form of energy right now, and the alternatives either aren’t well supported or, like ethanol, cause a whole new set of environmental issues.

But we can still take steps to make our energy use more efficient - like using public transportation, rather than showing off doing burnouts in a gas-guzzling Hummer. And we can be careful with the limited resources we’ve got - like researching more fuel-efficient vehicles, rather than dumping thousands of gallons of oil into the Arctic just to prove something pointless.

If we can drain away the planet’s supply of oil and gas a little more slowly, maybe it’ll buy us a little more time to come up with an actual sustainable solution that won’t destroy us.