...or some other petroleum-based product, for that matter...
...take me away.
As discussed here and elsewhere in blogs run by extant members of my family tree, the seeking of a means of escape is always at least somewhat present. What one would describe as the "brilliant entrance and / or exit strategy" is like the golden ring dangling in front of us. My lovely wife describes this as "itchy feet;" she indeed experiences a similar sensation of needing some form of escape.
That ring, to some degree, seems very much within my (our) grasp, albeit in a sort of temporary fashion. It lies within plane tickets booked at the first of next month to a far-off place, much different than the one in which we currently find ourselves. Even though this is a temporary reprieve, it is a reprieve nonetheless.
I am reminded of this because I just received another of a too-frequent series of phone calls: the last-minute immediate family drop-in, AKA the "we're headed your way this weekend and would really like to see you" conversation. Never mind that my in-laws are completing their move-in (with us) on Saturday. Never mind that I'm insanely busy at work trying to tie up my current assignment in a pretty red bow so my successors (and I) don't get screwed by my desire for transition. Never mind that I just blew a not-insignificant amount of money for a hotel room (damn that futon) and ridiculously-hotel-priced alcoholic beverages to see you EARLIER THIS MONTH.
I will frankly never understand my family (I gave that up a long time ago), and that doesn't really bother me that much. The fact that I continually suffer for it, however, bothers me. I know one of the golden rules of blogging sans consequences is "don't bitch about your family," but... still.
They hate plane travel, so I have that going for me.
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There has been a whole lot of rancor, supposition, introspection, and other things engineers patently aren't good at re: the oil and gas industry, certain oil spills in certain places I love, etc. and I can't shake the sensation that so much of it is wrong-headed in the overly simplistic way that people who don't (or can't) know better try to understand the world around them. Ladies and gentlemen, if life were that simple, and solutions easily attainable, stuff would get fixed. The world doesn't work that way.
Suffice to say the following: the tar-stained woes in my current part of the world are owed to a myriad of things. Let's take a stab at it:
* Shit-ass safety engineering and risk analysis
* A mentality that some risks are worth taking if the bottom line benefits
* Poorly designed regulations for subsea operations with huge potential environmental impacts
* Poorly enforced regulations as above
* Continued, increasing exotic exploration for a finite resource proving increasingly difficult to find
* Market demand for products derived from said resources
You could make arguments that all of these are root causes, but it really comes down to this: we like stuff, we like stuff cheap, and we don't trust government to protect us from the down side of liking cheap stuff. In other words, we like stuff without consequences. Too bad no such thing exists.
However, I can't shake the sensation of being on the wrong side of the fence in situations like this, largely because this is the industry that I work in (primarily). I can (and have) rationalized that most of my projects are environmentally related and in some way help out, but that typically just makes me the left-wing nutjob in a roomful of crazy don't-tread-on-me flag wavers. It's not the greatest realization in the world, but I've largely come to grips as to why I do it: the paycheck that shows up every two weeks. Given where I am, what my background is, and what I do, it's the most likely path to the highest income, so here I am. If someone dropped a "green job" in front of me that made the same kind of money, I'd go in a heartbeat.
This is why people in Louisiana willingly work in that industry when the same industry could be the downfall of so much of this part of the world - it's the best option they have going. I can't fault people for that any more than I fault that paycheck that shows up every two weeks.
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2 comments:
It's the triumph of market economics: the profit to be made in selling oil is sufficient to overcome the liability created by malfeasance and accident. Said liability to be further reduced by plowing some of that profit into buying off the relevant lawmakers and regulators.
Ultimately, the way to cope with the demand for oil is to treat it the same way as a major narcotic, quite frankly: reduce the demand wherever possible and clamp down on the suppliers accordingly.
(A major opportunity was missed over these last ten years or so - if Bush could have hammered home the point that reduced oil consumption would weaken the enemy and reduce our exposure in the Middle East, in 2002, we might have turned things around. And if Cousin Pa had tits he'd be Sarah Palin.)
I'm with you on the whole employer vs money thing - summer of 1996 was funded in equal measure by RJ Reynolds and United Healthcare - I called it the Merchants of Death Summer. Now I salve my moral conscience by simply making no money and being broke as a joke and dependent on my sugar mama to keep me in iPhones and DMs and generally perpetuate my rock 'n roll lifestyle.
Ah yes, why is it so many people insist or assume there's a simple answer or explanation or solution for everything? The optimist in me thinks part of it is they're just trying to be helpful, as if they could possibly make something better by solving the situation. The pessimist in me thinks they're just clueless. There's this thing called entropy, and it only ever increases. Things are chaotic. Things are complicated. Things are connected.
My favorite example of people trying to simplify a situation is when they offer suggestions for weight loss. But there are so many other examples I could give, but I'm about to enter a narcoleptic state since I haven't quite adjusted to time in North America since returning from vacation.
Best of luck and enjoyment to you two for your reprieve in July. Lord knows you've earned it. I just wish we could visit you!
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