U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders just posted a video on Facebook along with the following introduction:
”This week we learned that Shell spilled 90,000 gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. The leak left a sheen of oil across roughly 26 square miles of the Gulf. We’ve had enough environmental disasters to learn by now that there must be no new offshore drilling. Not now, not ever. There’s no such thing as safe offshore drilling. If we are serious about combatting climate change and protect our coastal communities we must keep fossil fuels in the ground and aggressively transition to renewable energy.”
The video of Sanders warning against climate changes was originally posted November 4th, 2015, taking on the Koch brothers and other powerful political forces more concerned with short-term profits than the future of the planet.
Last week’s disastrous Shell oil spill lent a new immediacy to the matter:
“Unless we move aggressively to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel into energy efficiency, into sustainable energy, the planet that we are going to be leaving our kids is something we should be ashamed of.”
Shell’s spill is classified as medium in size under U.S. Coast Guard guidelines, and there are spills every year, according to ABC News.
A staggering 147 spills have been reported since 2012, with about 516,900 gallons of oil floating in the Gulf, making these recurring environmental disasters more common than rare. Sanders responded to the latest spill on Twitter:
“Spills like this one aren’t rare. That’s why we need to ban offshore drilling and #KeepItInTheGround.”
Spills like this one aren't rare. That's why we need to ban offshore drilling and #KeepItInTheGround. https://t.co/O6hAxgq1O6
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) May 13, 2016
This is of course one of the main differences between Bernie Sanders and many of his Republican opponents, who discard the climate change as non-existent, and to whom his November speech included a direct message:
“Worry less about your campaign contributions, worry more about your children and your grandchildren.”
Profit from oil allows for short term profit with long term damages. Sanders predicted international conflicts, war and death in the wake of an environmental breakdown, and warned that we are in a major, major planetary crisis.
“We in the United States have got to lead the world working with China, working with Russia, working with India, to transform our energy system.”
Yes, we do have to work together, not just within our country, but with the rest of the world. Our planet has become too small for any of us to be able to hide within one’s country’s borders and do as one pleases. The environmental effects of oil spills, nuclear leaks and global warming includes us all and doesn’t acknowledge boarders.
Sanders’ speech ended with a summons to embrace the movement:
“The only way that real change takes place is when millions of people come together and stand up and say you know what, that United States congress is going to have to work for all of us, and not just for the people that owns the fossil fuel industry.”
Sander’s Facebook post received 750.000 views within the first seven hours.
Featured image Screengrab from video.
