I've written a new article based upon the Gulf Coast/Deepwater Horizon oil spill media attention and public opinion on the internet, which appears mostly to be on a witch hunt rather than asking questions such as Why did we NEED a "Deepwater Horizon"?
Invisible, odorless, and tasteless carbon dioxide building up in the atmosphere is not enough of an incentive to cause the average citizen, uh, consumer to think about how fast-paced throwaway society dependent upon so much high grade energy impacts themselves and the world around them. I hope that thick slimy oil coating and killing hundreds of miles of coastline - not faraway in Alaska, but in the Sun Belt - hopefully helps out a bit, if anything good is to come out of this spill.
Treating the cause rather than the symptom
BP stated, as of today, that they are seeking to raise $50 billion to pay for the cleanup costs. At $80 per barrel, that's equivalent to one month of U.S. oil consumption.