In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon incident, an oil spill, ripped through the Gulf of Mexico spilling 60,000 gallons of oil a day (Freudenberg and Gramling 13). It was referred to by President Obama in a speech as “the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced.” As a resident of an island nation, I saw my country get more and more anxious. We were unsure of how the oil would impact our marine life and ultimately our economy as fishing is one of our main industries. The stress of this event propelled me into being an advocate against oil pollution as it negatively impacts ecosystems (on land and water), human and animal health and overall economies. Because of these effects, international policy makers should put more policies in place
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Many people believe that policy makers should not have a large say in oil pollution solutions. Instead, as Faure and Hui point out, they believe that oil companies should be held responsible. They expand on this by saying that when oil companies realize how important it is to prevent oil pollution will the world really see a change. They state that oil companies governing themselves should be enough for the oil pollution problem, therefore policy makers would not have to get involved ((253). While I agree that oil companies should feel responsible for oil pollution, I disagree that policy makers should not have a large say. If policy makers put these policies in place it should make oil companies feel responsible and take responsibility for spills. In addition to this, policy makers have the ability to pass policies for research funding. Funding is important so that more details about oil pollution can be discovered and current details can be further investigated. Zhu and Li’s article explores new legislations regarding oil pollution over the last ten years. In this article they state that these new regulations are stricter and have caused a decline in oil pollution, proving policy makers are a large part of this fight (Zhu and Li 89.) Short and Murry support this idea claiming that regulation and enforcement should be strong enough to deter companies from contributing to oil pollution (163.) Through these sources, we can build on the idea that although oil companies should feel responsible, policymakers have a huge impact on preventing oil pollution by passing
Many people believe that policy makers should not have a large say in oil pollution solutions. Instead, as Faure and Hui point out, they believe that oil companies should be held responsible. They expand on this by saying that when oil companies realize how important it is to prevent oil pollution will the world really see a change. They state that oil companies governing themselves should be enough for the oil pollution problem, therefore policy makers would not have to get involved ((253). While I agree that oil companies should feel responsible for oil pollution, I disagree that policy makers should not have a large say. If policy makers put these policies in place it should make oil companies feel responsible and take responsibility for spills. In addition to this, policy makers have the ability to pass policies for research funding. Funding is important so that more details about oil pollution can be discovered and current details can be further investigated. Zhu and Li’s article explores new legislations regarding oil pollution over the last ten years. In this article they state that these new regulations are stricter and have caused a decline in oil pollution, proving policy makers are a large part of this fight (Zhu and Li 89.) Short and Murry support this idea claiming that regulation and enforcement should be strong enough to deter companies from contributing to oil pollution (163.) Through these sources, we can build on the idea that although oil companies should feel responsible, policymakers have a huge impact on preventing oil pollution by passing