Is it possible that we are just reaping what we have sown with the oil crisis in the Gulf of Mexico? We have treated others this way. Are we just getting a dose of our own medicine?
These are questions posed by someone who is genuinely concerned about the poor and what is currently happening in our world.
BP’s Deep Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, which happened to be Israel’s Independence Day. Was that a coincidence, or what some people call an incidence of God?
Why am I asking? We, I was just informed that the day before Fox News in the US reported that Israel could no longer rely on US support in the United Nations.
There is such a thing as God’s judgments on nations and they can affect the economic, political or social realm as well as the realm of nature. The Bible and judgment and blessing and Israel and how we view Israel have a curious interconnection.
This Gulf oil leak is extremely serious and having been to New Orleans twice and broadcasting weekly on WSHO Radio from New Orleans, and knowing the area, I am concerned about the people, their livelihoods and their future well-being.
But are you aware of what has been happening environmentally in Nigeria? Being involved with ministries in Uganda and Kenya, I am also deeply concerned about the circumstances in Africa.
Caring for the poor means staying informed and speaking out when necessary.
I understand that Nigeria’s agony overshadows the Gulf oil spill, and yet the United States and Europe ignore it.
The Deepwater Horizon disaster made headlines around the world, but people living in the Niger Delta have had to live with environmental catastrophes for decades. I didn’t realize the seriousness of this until the other day.
In fact, more oil spills from the delta’s network of terminals, pipelines, pumping stations, and oil rigs each year than is lost into the Gulf of Mexico.
On May 1 of this year, a ruptured pipeline spilled more than a million gallons into the Niger Delta for seven days before the leak was stopped.
Locals demonstrated but say they were attacked by security guards.
Community leaders are now demanding $1 billion in compensation for the illness and loss of livelihood they suffered.
Few expect them to succeed. Meanwhile, thick balls of tar are being washed up along the shoreline, as thousands grapple with relentless oil spills from rusting pipes, some of which are 40 years old.
In the last two years, there have been ten oil spills and the fishermen can no longer support their families.
The Niger Delta is reported to be the oil pollution capital of the world. What is being done about it environmentally speaking and with respect to social and economic aspects?
Life expectancy in their rural communities, half of which do not have access to clean water, has dropped to just over 40 years in the last two generations.
Locals blame the oil contaminating their land and can hardly believe the contrast to the steps taken by BP and the US government to try to stop the Gulf oil leak and protect the Louisiana coast from pollution.
The oil companies just ignore it. I had heard about this a few months ago, but I really didn’t quite believe it.
Legislators don’t care and people have to live with pollution on a daily basis.
The situation is now worse than 30 years ago. Nothing is changing.
When I see the efforts that are being made in the US, I feel great sadness at the double standards. What they do in the United States or in Europe is very different.
I am worried about Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya, and about Africa in general, as well as about the catastrophe that has occurred in the Gulf.
sand shaw
