Comments on: The Problem cartoon – discussion

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:32:07 +0000

Hello, Mr. McMillen! And thank you for your insight and creative illumination of the problems of insufficiently regulated industry. I value your work and your discussion of environmental issues and applaud your efforts to formulate potential solutions. I’m a student who hopes to go into public policy in America, and I’ve been following your cartoons for some time as a source of inspiration and hope. There ARE ways for our governments and businesses to change, there ARE ways to turn the deterioration of our planet around, there ARE ways for businesses to be on the “good” side of this fight. I hope many more people come to your sight and are inspired in the way I have been. Thanks again!

By: Deadra Tagliente

Deadra Tagliente — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 11:12:43 +0000

I was rather glad to come across this site. I wanted to thank you for this brilliant piece!! I clearly enjoyed every little word of it and I have you saved to take a look at new stuff you publish.

By: Sasha Tullius

Sasha Tullius — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 09:01:21 +0000

Exceptional read, I just passed this onto a friend who was doing a little homework on that. And he actually bought me lunch because I found it for him…. smile.. So let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch!But yeah Many thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic. If possible, as you gain expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more information? It is extremely helpful for me.

By: The Problem < Recombinant Records

The Problem < Recombinant Records — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 05:30:16 +0000

[...] some expanded thoughts on ideas contained in the cartoon. Post a comment | Trackback [...]

By: John

John — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:07:12 +0000

Hi Stuart. You’re cartoon is as incisive as ever! Your additional thoughts are also greatly appreciated – thank you. Keep shining the light please.

Notice of your post came through to me just as I was writing a response in another forum (Linked In) to the question “If money were no object what would you do about the situation in the Gulf?”

The answer I gave is now supplemented by a link to this cartoon.
In the spirit of sharing this is what I answered:
“Money no object? How about investment in oil alternatives so there is no call for risky extraction practices in the first place? If drilling did not compromise the oil well there would be no threat to the keys ecosystem or the livelihood of others who formerly made a living based on the natural assets of the region.
What has happened could be thought of as a Chernobyl of Oil – the “need” for energy overrides the normal tolerances of risk creating a hair-trigger potential, which in Chernobyl and the Gulf of Mexico was arguably tripped by an accident waiting to happen.
The sun provides something in the order of 15 times our global energy demand and yet there is next to no investment in harnessing that potential – why? Maybe because the sun arrives here for free? – No government can issue an exploration license or tax extraction for sunshine? Maybe because no cartel can control the supply there is no real investment incentive because the market is beyond manipulation? Sure, anyone with the right conversion technology can sell the energy collected, but there is still the problem of storage (if we stick to the silo thinking of electricity as the only form of converted sunshine) and it is not a sector with the potential to concentrate wealth in the hands of a few like oil does, so few institutional investors are really interested – ‘returns’ look better with business as usual folks…
The Exxon Valdez didn’t really change the way we do business, neither will the GoM-BP catastrophe, since these are symptoms not causes. BP likes to claim that it has made the paradigm shift from an oil company to an energy company – did so way back in Rio at the Earth Summit (or around that time) if memory serves, so what the hell has been happening in the 18 years since then?”