• There’s lot of apocalyptic people in environmental circles. A lot of those people were outraged that we presented an optimistic view of the future. There’s a dark vision driving us, but we’re about moving toward a positive picture of what can be done.
• Transition US founder Raven Gray • On the response to her group, which is a British transplant. The group believes in the theory of “peak oil,” where there’s an economic collapse and “population die-off” that comes as the amount of oil in the world dwindles. The group is growing quickly – starting with just two chapters in 2008, it now has 68. Some granola hippies think we’re all gonna go through this post-apocalyptic drama. And that’s right, kids. We’re all gonna die. Because we don’t have oil. source

• Our good friends at Shell seriously have no place to talk. As bad as the Deepwater Horizon disaster has been, Shell has created problems as bad, if not worse (and mostly unreported), in Nigeria. A few quick numbers to throw your way on this, courtesy of The Guardian’s recent exposé on Shell:

• 14,000 tons of oil spilled by Shell in 2009

• 98% Shell’s estimate of spills caused by vandalism, theft or sabotage
• 7,000 number of oil spills Shell had in Nigeria between 1970 and 2000
• 2,000 the number of official spillage sites in Nigeria alone source

Two spills, two responses

• There are more than 300 spills, major and minor, a year. It happens all the year round. The whole environment is devastated. The latest revelations highlight the massive difference in the response to oil spills. In Nigeria, both companies and government have come to treat an extraordinary level of oil spills as the norm.
• Friends of the Earth International’s Nigerian head Nnimo Bassey • Regarding the government’s response to the spill, which seems to only highlight the differences between the American and Nigerian responses to major oil spills. With nearly 1.5 million barrels reportedly spilled in the Niger River’s delta in the last 50 years, it seems that the country has resigned itself to the fate. “In Nigeria, they have been living above the law,” Bassey said. They are now clearly a danger to the planet. The dangers of this happening again and again are high. They must be taken to the international court of justice.” source

• Not to criticize Time two weeks in a row, but COME ON. Why are you letting Shell advertise on pages adjacent to stories about the oil spill? The ads are huge, and there’s more than one style of them (keep reloading). Totally not ethical in light of the spill. Look, this whole situation is awful all around – don’t get us wrong – but this kind of schadenfreude advertising isn’t helping anyone. Least of all Shell, who just a few weeks ago was on the hot seat for after an Amnesty International anti-Shell ad was pulled from an issue of the Financial Times. Bad form, Shell. source

• 6,000 number of barrels of oil the new cap is allowing BP to transfer per day
• 19k-25k number of barrels that are currently spewing out of the pipe daily source

• » A starting point: This total does not reflect a high point for how much oil they can siphon. To prevent the pressure from causing an explosion, they’re allowing some of the oil to go through vents which they plan to later close. So expect that 6,000 barrel total to go up.

• yes The robots successfully got the pipe capped off, after many trying days and one stuck diamond saw.
• but Unfortunately, it may not be enough to stop the spill, even temporarily. It’s too soon to tell. souce

• What is undoubtedly true is that we did not have the tools you would want in your tool kit.
• BP CEO Tony Hayward • Regarding his company’s lack of plan to take care of the massive oil spill that happened on their watch. While there has been some good news today – they managed to cut that pipe, which may allow them to further limit the damage caused by the spill – the fact of the matter is that they didn’t have a plan. Sure, they had tools ready to take care of an Exxon Valdez-like situation, but they had no plan for any sort of trouble below the surface. Hayward calls it “an entirely fair criticism.” We call it downright unbelievable. source

• YES but only after they got
  stuck for a while source

• OH THE HUMANITY! BP has screwed up like four dozen times in the last month, so why wouldn’t the saw they were using to cut the pipe in the oil spill get stuck IN THE PIPE? Seriously. We bet you all thought it was going to be a bunch of aliens that were going to end the human race. But no. It’s a saw blade stuck in a #(&(@(&! pipe that did it. (Above is a clip from the most riveting television on the air right now, the oil spill webcam.) source