Introduction
The challenges that climate change present mixed with a heightened sense of environmental consciousness and personal responsibility are ever-present in our modern-day society. One such imminent cause for concern that has the potential to result in an unmitigated environmental crisis, and must be addressed, is oil spills. In order to better understand oil spills along with their cause and effect one must immerse themselves with the understanding of the basic markup of petroleum. “Petroleum, complex mixture of hydrocarbons that occur in Earth in liquid, gaseous, or solid form. A natural resource, petroleum is most often conceived of in its liquid form, commonly called crude oil, but, as a technical term, petroleum” (Rivera, 2024). As stated, petroleum and oil are interchangeable and when someone refers to an oil spill, they are colloquially referring to a spill induced by petroleum. This distinction although very minute is imperative to understanding what exactly an oil spill is as to avoid any future misunderstandings. “Oil spill, leakage of petroleum onto the surface of a large body of water” (T. Editors of Encyclopaedia, 2024). This is when petroleum also known as oil treads off its intended path and seeps into an unintended target. There are various forms of oil spills ranging from onshore to offshore, from mild to severe, and from short-term impacts to long-term impacts. Oil spills cause major harm to not only us humans but also have the distinct possibility of causing major havoc and wreckage to the broader marine biology. This harm will subsequently result in the gradual erosion of the marine ecosystem over a period of time if left unattended. Oil spills can occur when dealing with aging infrastructure, when a pipeline bursts, or can be caused by a ship leakage. It is no surprise that oil spills pose as a significant environmental catastrophe. “From an environmental perspective, much attention has focused on the release of oil and petroleum products in the environment from accidental spills” (Testa & Jacobs, 2014).