Friendly fire

As we in America watch the oil continue to gush from BP’s Deepwater Horizon well, the same question is on everyone’s mind: How can I help?

The most effective way would be to reduce your carbon footprint by doing things like biking to work and buying groceries from local farmers.

The sooner we reduce our dependence on oil, the sooner we can get rid of the oil rigs that cause such catastrophes.

But eliminating oil from your daily routine is not an easy task. It takes dedication, some hardship and a commitment to change. It’s much easier to ease your conscience by just boycotting the company responsible. That way, as the oil spreads out from the Gulf of Mexico to reach the sandy beaches of coastal states, ruining the summer vacations of thousands, you can feel like you’re doing something to help.

That’s what metalheads Korn are doing. The band is about to embark on a tour for the 2010 Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, and it has just announced that it will be avoiding any gas stations with that green and yellow flower on it. The group’s members said they were “motivated” by the disaster to raise awareness of the environmental impact caused by the spewing oil.

Websites such as boycottbp.org and political pundits like Jesse Jackson are urging consumers to vote with their wallets and show BP just how angry they are.

On Facebook, a “Boycott BP” page has more than 600,000 fans — there’s nothing like a click of a button to make a big difference. Not.

The only problem is that the party affected by the boycott is not BP. That’s because, since the company began selling off its retail gas business in 2007, almost all of its 13,000 gas stations are independent franchises.

To break that down more simply, the boycott of BP that makes you feel so warm and fuzzy inside is not affecting the company at all. It’s devastating small business owners who are just as irate about the oil spill as your are — except now, they are also losing money.

But that’s not the only problem. Americans are angry about the oil spilling onto their pristine shores, but how much more frustrated do you think they would be if they had to foot the bill for cleanup as well? If any conceivable boycott were successful and BP had to declare bankruptcy, how on Earth would they pay to clean up their mess?

No boycott will make any difference as long as we as Americans are dependent on drilling for oil for our way of life. Until the demand dissipates, efforts to keep the supply going will continue — and that means drilling in places miles beneath the ocean.


E-mail: danfleis@indiana.edu