Concerning Oil and what could have been done...
It was 1988 and I was eight years old watching my Father's friend showing his newly made polymer to four oil companies and two government officials. I don't remember the companies or departments that were represented. I remember this:
He sat down two tubs of water and one empty tub. In one tub was fresh water and the other was salt water. I had helped mix in the marine salt to make it as close to sea water as Kansas could get. I got to hand him bottles. He explained in long words I could barely follow how his invention worked. He took the pail from me and poured half of the heavy crude oil into the fresh water and half into the salt water. He used his own bare hand to stir it around.
He smiled at the men who were all stiffly sitting and glaring. He took the little clear squeeze bottle from me with his clean hand and he squirted a quarter of the bottle into each oiled tub. He squirted the remainder of the bottle over his arm. I watched eagerly as the magic happened again. I'd seen it the week before when he was convincing my Father to let him borrow money to buy the light and heavy crude to show these men. That day the magic had happened with gasoline and dye. I remember that too.
The oil clumped up and floated on top of the water. In the salt water it bobbed higher in the water than the fresh. Father explained to me later that I'd do that too, float higher. Then he picked up the clump and put it in the empty tub. I got to hand him the littlest bottle and when he added that to the tub the oil melted back out into oil.
The arm he'd covered in crude and then sprayed with his polymer was clean as though it had never been touched. He'd swiped the little clumps off his arm and melted it in the third tub too. The men surrounded him and the yelling began. I pushed the light crude bucket over and he repeated the whole thing with the light crude. Those clumps were even easier to pick up.
Afterwards the water was perfectly clear. It tested completely clear for the oil and for the polymer. Clean enough he poured some of the fresh water into a glass and drank it.
He had another invention that could be added to the pipelines that would make the oil slippery and not cling to the inside of the pipe. The men shook their heads. I remember that too. My Father's friend didn't sell his invention that day or any other day. He couldn't get anyone to show the least bit of interest.
I remembered it the day of the oil spill in 1989 and I eagerly asked my Father if they'd want his invention now. That day was the first time I decided that greed caused the disasters of the world. He shook his head and told me they wouldn't ever want it because it worked too well.
I cried as I listened to all the animals and people that were hurt or died because one single invention that could have saved them wasn't available to use. They hadn't even stolen his invention, they just ignored it. I remember it now with this current spill. And I wish I could remember the formula he showed me. It was just gibberish to my young dyslexic eyes. I can remember the color of the tubs he used. *sigh*
It existed and it could again. My Father's friend quit researching in the 1990's and later he died. It was greed that kept him from saving the world when I was nine. Will you let greed be the reason the world falls apart now?
It isn't us as humans. The planet has survived far more than we've done to it. Greed on the other hand has caused...well, every war (think about it), the recent mine deaths, the American Revolution, the run away salaries of CEO's that don't do anything useful, the cost of everything (the same milk you drink today used to coast how much? It isn't really worth more now is it?), the lost of species of animals, and many of the problems around you.
Greed. Learn to live without it. Save the world.
He sat down two tubs of water and one empty tub. In one tub was fresh water and the other was salt water. I had helped mix in the marine salt to make it as close to sea water as Kansas could get. I got to hand him bottles. He explained in long words I could barely follow how his invention worked. He took the pail from me and poured half of the heavy crude oil into the fresh water and half into the salt water. He used his own bare hand to stir it around.
He smiled at the men who were all stiffly sitting and glaring. He took the little clear squeeze bottle from me with his clean hand and he squirted a quarter of the bottle into each oiled tub. He squirted the remainder of the bottle over his arm. I watched eagerly as the magic happened again. I'd seen it the week before when he was convincing my Father to let him borrow money to buy the light and heavy crude to show these men. That day the magic had happened with gasoline and dye. I remember that too.
The oil clumped up and floated on top of the water. In the salt water it bobbed higher in the water than the fresh. Father explained to me later that I'd do that too, float higher. Then he picked up the clump and put it in the empty tub. I got to hand him the littlest bottle and when he added that to the tub the oil melted back out into oil.
The arm he'd covered in crude and then sprayed with his polymer was clean as though it had never been touched. He'd swiped the little clumps off his arm and melted it in the third tub too. The men surrounded him and the yelling began. I pushed the light crude bucket over and he repeated the whole thing with the light crude. Those clumps were even easier to pick up.
Afterwards the water was perfectly clear. It tested completely clear for the oil and for the polymer. Clean enough he poured some of the fresh water into a glass and drank it.
He had another invention that could be added to the pipelines that would make the oil slippery and not cling to the inside of the pipe. The men shook their heads. I remember that too. My Father's friend didn't sell his invention that day or any other day. He couldn't get anyone to show the least bit of interest.
I remembered it the day of the oil spill in 1989 and I eagerly asked my Father if they'd want his invention now. That day was the first time I decided that greed caused the disasters of the world. He shook his head and told me they wouldn't ever want it because it worked too well.
I cried as I listened to all the animals and people that were hurt or died because one single invention that could have saved them wasn't available to use. They hadn't even stolen his invention, they just ignored it. I remember it now with this current spill. And I wish I could remember the formula he showed me. It was just gibberish to my young dyslexic eyes. I can remember the color of the tubs he used. *sigh*
It existed and it could again. My Father's friend quit researching in the 1990's and later he died. It was greed that kept him from saving the world when I was nine. Will you let greed be the reason the world falls apart now?
It isn't us as humans. The planet has survived far more than we've done to it. Greed on the other hand has caused...well, every war (think about it), the recent mine deaths, the American Revolution, the run away salaries of CEO's that don't do anything useful, the cost of everything (the same milk you drink today used to coast how much? It isn't really worth more now is it?), the lost of species of animals, and many of the problems around you.
Greed. Learn to live without it. Save the world.