Whenever we turn on the TV, surf the Internet or open a newspaper, we are bombarded with stories about something negative happening because of oil. For months we sat and watched as BP tried to cap its mess, cursing the people who were to blame and hoping nothing like it would happen again.
This week, here in Michigan — in Calhoun County to be exact — a pipeline malfunctioned and poured almost 900,000 gallons of oil into a creek that feeds into the Kalamazoo River. The results were disastrous. Forget fishing or swimming, the Kalamazoo River looks more like a slick mess of tar than a body of water millions of creatures rely on to survive.
If we don’t end our dependency on dirty fuels, the Great Lakes will be at risk for even more damage like this — possibly even from drilling. But we can protect our lakes and rivers by establishing a constitutional ban on drilling in the Great Lakes. It will be one less catastrophe waiting to happen.
We should utilize our miles of beautiful coastlines and invest in alternative energy sources such as wind power. As is true with all technology, they are bound to malfunction time and again, but I can tell you a broken wind turbine won’t cause a hazardous oil slick.
Alexandra Henderson, journalism senior
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