I read an interesting post on PRWeek about the latest and greatest on the worst environmental PR crisis of our time. The Huffington Post had a much more direct approach to the issue. The New York Times had a good blog post on this, too. Great, so now we’re fighting with each other from across the pond instead of trying to work together to fix this.
It does anger me to see this finger pointing game carry on. It’s as if we’ve asked incapable people to lead and manage our world, and our environment.
While I don’t understand fully the politics behind the issue (we’ll probably never know all the facts), I do know that finger pointing is not a healthy PR tactic. It is a miserable - and very temporary way - to place the blame somewhere else while the crisis continues and evolves. The fact is that oil keeps spilling… and spending time and energy assigning blame to politicians, or whoever else, won’t stop its horrific effects.
If PR is about establishing and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships, containing issues and dealing with them with leadership - then I think the way we are approaching the BP issue is incorrect. We’re not simply failing the public here. We’ve failed our environment.
Far more concerning is the uncertainty of how to resolve the issue. When leadership is absent, finger pointing and petty talk begins. How sad is that, especially as our our eco-system is desperately still trying to hold on.
I’m also worried about the effects of this that our children will face in a time when references to BP or British Petroleum won’t matter. Do we get what we deserve at this point?
My daughter is too young to understand what the spill is about just yet, but she’s grasping the importance of social responsibility. I took her to the beach last week and we were having fun splashing around in the shallow water. She saw a plastic Publix bag floating nearby and said to me firmly, ”Mommy, that’s inconsiderate!” She’s so right.