History Repeating

In the middle of our first real summer in five years we mightn't have realised that the Atlantic hurricane season is already under way. But it is, and as I write the first tropical storm of the series is heading northwards. It will cross the Yucatan peninsula and hit the Gulf of Mexico in days. And that, my friends, is not good news.

Whether it becomes a hurricane and does a lot of damage on land is one thing. But it is also headed towards where frantic efforts are being made to cap the gushing BP oil well that is spewing a huge flood of filth and gunge into the sea and onto US coasts.
Even if the storm gives it a miss, the Deepwater Horizon is already America's biggest-ever environmental catastrophe. Worse still, although the company involved claims to be capturing or burning off tens of thousands of barrels of oil each day, it looks like the damaged rig could continue to gush for two more years.
It's a regional ecological disaster in itself. Vast quantities of the (unrefined) oil have slimed across the complex ecosystems of the coasts of Louisiana and Florida.
The unfolding horror and the subsequent efforts by Big Oil in general and BP in particular to PR their way out of the firestorm has uncanny parallels with what happened when the banks began to collapse.
Their promises have the same air of queasy optimism and assurance and business-school sloganeering. Larry Thomas from BP told an audience of fishing families in Louisiana that he was committed to "doing better". Others talk of "making it right".
Bollocks.
The campaigning author Naomi Klein sees the genesis of the Gulf Oil disaster in arrogance, stupidity and greed. Just like the banks, then. And of course, that means that those charged with oversight, both at Government and corporate levels, were entirely derelict in their duty.
Unlikely as it first seemed, we might even get a little touch from the disaster here, given that our shores are washed by the Gulf Stream – a piece from the explosion has already been found in Florida, a journey of over 300km.
Whether it does or not, it's bound to affect fish migrating into the Atlantic. Klein describes it as a hole in the world. It's a compelling image.
We are hearing of how it will kill off the grasses and plantlife that hold the complex coastal ecosystems together. In a matter of months there may not be any swamps left to save.
It also seems likely that the disaster will undermine deep water oil retrieval which may in turn bring forward 'Peak oil'. This is a major economic worry but let's face it, unless the technology dramatically improves and there is also guaranteed failsafe warning and repair systems in place, the world can't afford it.
I mean, there may be major oil reserves off the coast of the Isla Malvinas, the Falkland Islands to some. Can you imagine a similar disaster there, in icy stormy south Atlantic conditions?
But it's also instructive that we are thinking about all this because it happened where it happened. In fact, the situation is far, far worse in the Otuegwe region of Nigeria and has been so for a long time.
Light Nigerian crude is probably the world's finest oil. In their hunger, greed and opportunism, oil companies have built inappropriate and fragile pipelines prey to corrosion there.
As John Vidal recently wrote in the Observer, more oil is spilled from terminals, pipelines, pumping stations and oil platforms every year than has been lost in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. And they aren't bothering to clear it up!!
Why aren't we concerned about this? Is America somehow more important?
Admittedly, the value placed on life in Nigeria may seem less and corruption there is surely more entrenched. But in both areas, and very like the banks, greed, presumption, arrogance and capitalist machismo are fundamental drivers of the disasters.
Some might see the global need for oil as the central thread to all this and certainly there's truth in that. But there's another: America's demand for cheap and accessible oil.
This insatiable monster has driven huge geo-political developments. To take just one example, it's why the Americans espoused the Shah of Iran and support both the Israeli and Saudi governments. The Middle East is what it is as a result.
At least the bankers had the sense (if not good grace) to express shame for what they had done and its consequences. But the oil barons show no sign of remorse. They are trying to tell the world that this catastrophe couldn't have been foreseen and is just one of the glitches we have to take in our stride.
Well, the Gulf isn't the Otuegwe delta and they're unlikely to get away with it so easily. But whether they do or not, it's ironic is that it's these freewheeling cowboys, who were given acres to flourish in the Bush era, who have caused a significant dip in Obama's support.
The banking collapse caused many to question how money is managed and financial services delivered and regulated. Some go further and are now sketching more sustainable ways of doing business. The banks may not like it but the response has been rapid.
Things move at a more leisurely pace as regards energy supplies. Even though the green movement has been preaching the risks of oil production and the need to develop serious alternatives for a long time, adoption of more sustainable options has tended to follow, rather than anticipate, the curve of oil production.
Maybe it's time to change all that. After all, if we could get away from the need for oil we'd not only be free of the fear of 'peak oil' but we'd also no longer have to stomach the global, regional and corporate corruption that seems inextricably embedded in oil production.
And that would be a damn good thing.