WEEKLY WHINE

Interaction: Worse living through chemistry

Myers: Good evening, and welcome back to Warwickshire for this week's programme of Interaction, where we give you an opportunity to challenge people in position, who themselves have been given the opportunity to ignore your challenges. This week we're here to talk about the environment, or what remains of it. Last week off the Spanish coastline, the Prestige, a tanker carrying some 77,000 tonnes of oil, ruptured in rough seas and sank. Some experts are saying that up to 20,000 tonnes of oil has already leaked from the tanker, with no one able to say how much more is on the way. Spain's northwestern shores are choked with black crude in this, the latest of a long string of ecological disasters attributed to the world's energy wasting ways. Can humans save themselves? Will they put themselves out of their own misery? Or will something in between happen? Here this week is a panel who may have something to say about this. I'm Debbie Myers. In Ottawa this evening is the secretary of the advocacy group North Americans for a Non-Smelly World, Mr Arthur Flansburgh.

Flansburgh: Hello there.

Myers: On the scene in La Coruña, Spain, we have Ms Verona Marquette, the vice president of cleanliness at Petrol Europe PLC.

Marquette: Good evening.

Myers: Also in La Coruña, the hybrid vehicle designer for Andalucian Motor Works, Ms Jayna Roquefort.

Roquefort: Hi Debbie.

Myers: And here with me in our Warwickshire studios, an environmental analyst for the North London Think Tank, Mr Victor Sensini.

Sensini: Good evening.

Myers: Thank you all for joining us this evening. We'll go to you first, Arthur. For some time North Americans for a Non-Smelly World have been advocating the complete discontinuation of fossil fuels all around the world. Historically, how much have disasters like the Prestige benefitted your cause?

Flansburgh: Well, we never like to benefit from the misfortune of others, but it's true that disasters like this make things even more difficult for the messmakers. Currently Spain are thinking about rerouting shipping lanes to send tankers further from their coast, which can only help society in the long run. As time goes on, each fossil fuel disaster will make regulations that much more stringent, until finally messmaking becomes so burdened with regulations and controls that it is more cost effective to use cleaner, safer alternatives like wind power.

Myers: An important point to consider there. Verona, perhaps you could explain what actions Petrol Europe are taking at the Spanish shoreline.

Marquette: We recognise the importance of using fossil fuels responsibly, so we have cleanliness teams stationed at various ports surrounding Europe ready to leap into action at the time of any spill regardless of who is responsible. In this case, even though Petrol Europe had nothing to do with this spill, our cleanliness team in Madrid were the first to respond. They were the first to put glue on the forwardmost and aftmost storage tanks, successfully preventing those tanks from leaking.

Myers: That's something of which to take note. Jayna, will hybrid vehicles achieve their goal of reducing the world's fossil fuel consumption?

Roquefort: They don't have a choice. We have to make hybrid automobiles that are much more efficient than present models, or else all that we know and love will be lost.

Myers: Some strong words there. Victor, what about this particular spill? What will be the environmental damage from the Prestige spill?

Sensini: Unknown. It could be small, or it could be large. Mostly it depends upon how much oil actually leaks out from the wreckage of the tanker.

Myers: Well, another important question about this disaster is how it will affect the behaviour of people in related fields. In your case, Jayna, how will Andalucian Motor Works change its policy toward hybrid vehicles?

Roquefort: AMW don't have a choice. They know they're done if the hybrid effort doesn't succeed. Yesterday they actually doubled the size of my staff and gave me a real office, so I think management's finally getting the message.

Myers: And what about Petrol Europe, Verona? What is changing there?

Marquette: It seems as though management are going to start promoting the cleanliness teams more. The other day I heard that they're considering a new slogan, "The Non-Evil Petrol Company".

Myers: Intriguing. What is changing at North Americans for a Non-Smelly World, Arthur?

Flansburgh: We're going to continue taking our game right to the messmakers, and we're going to shut them down. We're going to step up and bring our A game, keep giving 110%, and never back down. We're going to keep the messmakers from playing their game.

Myers: Well, with that, we've got to move on to questions. Don't forget that you can get questions to us by E-mail, telephone, facsimile, post, telegraph, or by going up to our producer in a crowded restaurant and writing it on his forearm. This method, though, has not been tested. Our first query this evening comes to us from Kevin in Liverpool. Kevin, are you there?

Kevin in Liverpool: Hi!

Myers: Good evening Kevin. What is your question?

Kevin in Liverpool: It's about the environment.

Myers: Good. This show is about the environment. What is it?

Kevin in Liverpool: What, the environment?

Myers: No, your question. What is your question?

Kevin in Liverpool: Oh, that. Well, my question is... hang on... [rustling of paper]

Myers: Er, Kevin, are you there?

Kevin in Liverpool: Am I where?

Myers: Do you have your question?

Kevin in Liverpool: Yeah, I've got it here somewhere. Oh, I remember! It's in my sock. Hold on.... [pause] No, it's not here. Maybe the other sock...

Myers: Well, our producer says that your question was about the damage to the fishing industry incurred in -

Kevin in Liverpool: No it wasn't!

Myers: [firmly] Yes it was. Verona, what is the state of the fishing industry in La Coruña?

Marquette: In a word, Debbie, "nonexistent".

[Pause.]

Myers: Um, how about a sentence, then?

Marquette: Oh. "It is nonexistent".

Myers: Jayna, how would you describe things there?

Roquefort: Well, Debbie, though you can't see it now in the nighttime, this beach we're perched in front of is simply ghastly. The sand and rocks are covered in black oil, more of which seems to be washing in by the minute. Here and there are littered oil covered animals: birds, fishes, oysters, the like. Some are still alive; others are not. Fishing boats are all moored at their respective docks. It seems that many of them will be facing considerable lengths of time in cleanup once the government lifts the ban on fishing here. For the time being, though, they must wait here and continue receiving fresh coats of oil. They don't have a choice.

Myers: Victor, what can be done in situations like this, when the environmental fallout could continue to be felt for years?

Sensini: Unknown. There could be a lot to do, or there could be nothing. Mostly it depends upon whether people can think of good things to do.

Myers: I see. We have another question this evening, which comes to us through the post. I believe that's our first physical mail question for some time. It's from Sandra in Montpellier, France. She asks who should be held responsible for the Prestige wreck and the resulting damage. Victor?

Sensini: Unknown. It could be Spain's fault because they towed the ship to sea in bad weather, or it could be the EU's fault for failing to impose stricter regulations on single hulled tankers. Mostly it depends upon who did more to cause it.

Myers: Verona, to whom should the responsibility fall?

Marquette: The Greek company that owned the Prestige was sailing a single hulled tanker with no clear destination. We don't even know where the Prestige was headed - Spain claim that it was headed for Gibraltar, whereas the UK say that its docking ports did not include Gibraltar. Mare Shipping should be sanctioned for these irregular practises, and all their remaining single hulled vessels should be seized and turned into venues for secret football tournaments.

Myers: Well, that brings us to our next question, and it's from Dana in Tripoli, Libya. She asks in an E-mail why single hulled tankers have not been banned worldwide. Jayna, would you care to answer that?

Roquefort: They don't have a choice. If single hulled tankers were banned, there wouldn't be enough double hulled tankers to keep up with demand. Because people insist on wasting their lives on depleting, harmful resources, they are unwittingly ensuring a steady stream of ecologic calamities. If humanity keeps on like this, soon nobody will have any kind of choice.

Myers: Arthur, what would you add to that?

Flansburgh: These messmakers need to be shown that we're not going to allow them to continue making a mess of our planet. I wholeheartedly applaud Greenpeace's action this week of placing buckets of oil collected from the Spanish shores in front of government offices in Galicia. The only thing I would have done differently would be to douse the government officials in the oil as they were walking to their messmaking vehicles at the end of the day. If they choose to side with the messmakers, they should show it.

Myers: Verona, would you care to respond to that?

Marquette: No.

Myers: In that case, I believe we're through with this week's edition of Interaction. Let me briefly thank Mr Victor Sensini, Ms Jayna Roquefort, Ms Verona Marquette, and Mr Arthur Flansburgh for being here this evening. Next week we'll be in Rome, and we'll be discussing the disorganisation of football in Italy with a club chair, a retired referee, an Italian football commentator, and a former Italian woman. Until then, good night.

Marquette: Rats, I've got to get back to port in Madrid.

Myers: Port? In Madrid?