Podcast 1 Script

Hi folks! Welcome to Something Insightful, I am your host Ella Fingado, and I am so glad

to have you here today. I hope that Something Insightful can be a place where we get to spend a

little time in our day going over current events and what exactly they mean about our world. But

before we do that, I would like to introduce myself, and talk about where my love of social and

political activism came from. I am 17 years old and attend Severn School in Severna Park

Maryland. I have spent a lot of time of my time in high school dedicated to understanding the

complexities of the world around me. As a queer woman, I have realized that this lens of which I

perceive the world, is at times, different than others. This difference sparked my interest as I

began participating in local activism and politics. All of this to say, that I believe our world can

be better, and needs to be better. This podcast will focus on more than simply covering the news;

I will be discussing and analyzing how current events may reflect the deeply flawed elements of

our society. I think that in acknowledging the problems we face we have a much greater

opportunity for improvement, compared to blinding accepting our world, and therefore ignoring

it. I will work to ensure that I gather all information from a wide array of diverse sources that

accurately represent all events. As humans we all carry inherent bias, some we may recognize,

some we may not, so I ask that you listen to each podcast episode with an open-mind. Any

opinions I hold on an issue are rooted in my belief that all humans should be treated equally

regardless of race, gender, sexuality, or class, and that we live in a society that at times, upholds

institutions violating these human rights. All of this information can be found on my project

website, severnfellows22efingado.weebly.com. I look forward to our journey together of

becoming better humans.

 Today, let’s take a look at what happened on July 3rd. On Saturday July 3rd, 2021, at 5:15

am, there was a leak in an underwater gas pipe. This leak caused a circle of fire in the Gulf of

Mexico and required multiple ships to put out. The fire was fully extinguished at 10:45 am

according to Pemex, the company responsible for the leak. Pemex is a state-owned petroleum

company of Mexico that at present, operates 81 drilling rigs. The pipe was local to one of

Pemex’s platforms which produces about 1.7 million barrels of oil daily in the Campeche Sound

off of the Yucatan Peninsula. Luckily, there are no reported injuries and Pemex is currently

investigating the cause of the leak. And according to the executive director of Mexico’s Security,

Energy and Environment Agency, there was no oil spill and the extent of damage done to local

marine life is currently unknown.

So now that we know happened, let’s talk about why this event is so significant. To do

that, I’m going to be answering some questions. These being:

1. What exactly are pipelines?

2. How do pipelines pose a threat to the environment?

3. To what extent is this threat?

4. Who is affected by this threat?

5. What can we do?

(1) Pipelines were created to be a sort of transportation system for liquids like sewage, water,

petroleum, natural gas, and biofuels. Really a lot of things that you dont want to be

 traveling above grounds or that need to be transported in such quantities that this is the most

logical choice. To put things in perspective, America itself has a network of about 2.6

million miles of pipelines, 190,000 miles of those being the petroleum pipelines. While

there are many pipelines built underground, there are also ones constructed underwater.

Specifically, they are called submarine pipelines, also used to facilitate the transport oil.

They are essentially large tubes made to withstand environmental factors. There are

multiple ways to set up these pipelines underwater, two of which cause a great deal of harm

to the marine life since they require seabed excavation, these are the lay barge and tow

methods, the lay barge being one of the most common ways to build offshore pipelines.

(2) These submarine pipelines have the capacity to cause extreme harm to the environment if

damaged- a disturbance that comes in two different forms. An incident would either be

categorized as a leak or rupture, a leak being less severe and more common as compared to

a rupture, where great deals of oil may be released. As mentioned previously, in this case

concerning Pemex, it was a leak. Most incidents are caused by equipment failure, corrosion,

or excavation damage as reported by PHMSA, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety

Administration in 2015.

(3) If a pipeline is ruptured and oil leaks into the ocean, it is a long process to attempt to

remove the oil and to save local wildlife. Oil is very difficult to remove and while it is in the

water directly disrupts the natural ecosystem. Oil on the surface of the water blocks sunlight

from fish and is fatal to birds, as it will get on their feathers which during grooming they

unintentionally ingest. Most of you probably remember the BP oil spill, where on April 10th

2010 130 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico- one of the worst

 environmental disasters we’ve seen. 11 years later it is evident that the marine life still has

not fully recovered, as species populations are still lower than before. NOAA, the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, reports that it might take dolphins 40 years to

recover from this spill. While the Pemex oil incident pales in comparison to the

aforementioned, it is a stark warning that it is very possible it could happen again. If you

don’t live near the water this problem may feel irrelevant to you, but on-land pipelines also

pose threats to local wildlife. In order to construct most of these pipelines there is a huge

demand for land, many times in forests and natural habitats. So, in order to build these

pipelines, local species- and sometimes people, are pushed out of their homes.

(4) What you may be starting to piece together is that oil spills and pipelines don’t only affect

animals, many people are put at risk. Oil has more than 1,000 chemicals that are known

carcinogens, or cancer-causing substances, to humans. If oil enters the water it stands a

chance to enter local water supplies, detrimental to the health of anyone who ingests it. Oil

also has the capacity to enter soil, releasing chemical fumes that can cause chronic fatigue.

It is also important to note that these environmental disasters and all forms or climate

change disproportionately affect black people, indigenous people, and people of color.The

Climate Reality Project states that quote, "Low-income households and communities of

color are more likely than more affluent and white communities to live in proximity to

polluting industries like oil refineries and pipeline infrastructure, leading to disproportionate

exposure to pollution from burning fossil fuels and chemicals leaching into the water table.

And because of often discriminatory policies and poor city planning, these same

communities are hit first and worst by climate-exacerbated events like extreme drought,

 major floods, wildfires, and urban heat islands”. End quote. With this contextualization it

becomes much easier to realize the full and great affects of climate change and arguably

more importantly, climate change being a racial justice issue.

(5) A 2019 study found that Black people experience 56% more air pollution than they cause,

compared to white people experiencing 17% less air pollution than they cause. This study,

published in the PNAS, or Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United

States of America, serves as evidence that people of color are exploited by these companies

implementing pipelines.

(5) There needs to be greater oversight as to how pipelines are operated. As our climate warms

and habitats are destroyed, large corporations need to be held accountable. Studies show that just

100 companies are responsible for 71% of all global emissions. While we should try to make

sustainable, eco-friendly choices, those changes will be too small to balance the damage these

corporations are doing. I would also like the mention that many companies have engaged in a

sort of climate manipulation, attempting to convince working-class people that their life choices

are responsible for climate change but if you buy their product you’re saving the planet. The term

coined for this phenomena is “green-washing”, defined by companies providing an appearance

of eco-friendly products by using the color green or words that convey that the product is natural.

Unless a company can clearly state how their product is environmentally friendly, it is probably

green-washing. The best things we can do is educate ourselves about our world, how people of

color are disproportionately affected by climate change, and if possible, donating to non-profits

like NAACP who state that quote “Our vision is to ensure a society in which all individuals have

equal rights and there is no racial hatred or racial discrimination”, as well as The Equitable and

 Just National Climate Platform who work to implement public policy surrounding environmental

justice.

I hope you learned a little here today, and I’ll see you next time on Something Insightful.