Oil Spills & The Globe: Causes Impact & Severity

Conclusion

By analyzing people’s attitudes and where we are as a society it is safe to say that the reliance on oil remains and will continue to play a significant role in human existence for the foreseeable future. This is due to the fact that the overall global reliance on only has not only persisted but has substantially increased while at the same time many initiatives into key sustainable alternatives have stalled. This can be a result of faulty infrastructure, exorbitant costs, or basic attitudes against a seismic shift within a relatively short timeframe. Therefore, a full fossil fuel and oil phase out must be conducted over a gradual and carefully planned timeline. However, as it will take time before we as a collective move to a post-oil era we must focus on what we can do not to deal with oil spills. Many solutions are present, and we should endeavor to develop many more to help assist us with planning for the future. We in turn must enhance safety, oversight, and review before moving forward with any future drilling proposals. There must also be more stringent regulation penalties for violators or for instances of egregious violations. There will always be pressure and incentive to drill, start new oil projects and increase extraction. “Continued pressure to increase oil extraction from coastal zones may lead to further stress on coastal ecosystems and recurring contaminant spills, resulting in large-scale and temporally extended social and economic impacts” (Martínez, 2012).