Unfortunately I am cynical about this. We thought the Exxon Valdez disaster might be a turning point as well, but it wasn't. Some incremental change may come of this, but probably nothing revolutionary.
No doubt, you'll soon hear folks trying to put the public at ease about the long-term consequences of this spill. Something about how it's not too important in the big scheme of things, nature will have the place perfectly restored in about a decade, and so on. That's what they said about the Valdez. At the time I thought it was a reasonable argument. Then I pretty much forgot about it and went on my merry way. It wasn't until this spill that it came to my attention that the Puget sound still hasn't recovered ecologically from the spill.
I fuzzily remember a quote about either the hot-air balloon or the gatling gun; something to the effect that it would make war so terrible that it would no longer be waged. It doesn't matter how terrible the consequences of something are to everybody else; if it profits someone who's powerful enough to get it done, it'll get done.
No doubt, you'll soon hear folks trying to put the public at ease about the long-term consequences of this spill. Something about how it's not too important in the big scheme of things, nature will have the place perfectly restored in about a decade, and so on. That's what they said about the Valdez. At the time I thought it was a reasonable argument. Then I pretty much forgot about it and went on my merry way. It wasn't until this spill that it came to my attention that the Puget sound still hasn't recovered ecologically from the spill.