The low Horizons of modern society

This article was published in Spiked Online 12 May 2010

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is bad, but it is not a warning from nature about mankind's hubris.

An accident on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico has created an oil slick that threatens to cause considerable damage to tourist beaches, fisheries and wildlife in southern USA. It has also created an opportunity for greens to bash industrial society.

On 20 April, an oil rig being leased by BP and operated by Transocean - which was called the Deepwater Horizon - was completing the drilling of a deep well about 40 miles from the coast of Louisiana. There was a massive surge of gas and the system designed to prevent such an event from causing serious damage - the blowout protector - failed to work. As a result, the platform was engulfed in gas which then ignited. In the explosion, 11 members of the 126-strong crew were killed.