Screw BP. And ourselves.
Despite feeling daily anxiety about the worst oil spill in American history, I couldn’t help but shake the feeling of being a little complicit in the corporate criminality dominating the headlines.
It’s the classic chicken-and-the-egg problem. Does corporate behavior drive our consumer patterns, or do our consumer patterns drive corporate behavior? Case in point: today I purchased these really cool looking Tea forte teabags (pictured). While the tea is nice and strong, and I love the packaging, these particular teabags are heavier and contain more paper.
The heavier weight causes more energy and crude oil to be consumed at every step of the production and marketing process: the paper mill, the packaging, the delivery, etc. And why? Because me, the end-user, likes the god damn labeling.
I’m not saying companies like BP should be off the hook. I’m merely saying its sometimes easier to vilify a British petroleum conglomerate than it is to be introspective. Ok, time to make some chamomile from bottled Fiji water. Peace.
