BP Oil Spill: Where have the super (geeky) heroes gone?

May 27, 2010 - By Justin E. Gehrke

It has been more than a month since, thanks to British Petroleum, millions of gallons of oil began leaking due inoperable and unchecked safety mechanisms. Since then, we have slowly watched the stain in the Gulf of Mexico spread farther and farther. The spill’s effects have long since reached the beaches of the southern United States and set forth a chain of environmentally disastrous events that will affect us for years to come.

We’ve seen BP officials, experts on cable news networks, and even the U.S. Congress discuss what can and, more often, what cannot be done. Herein lies our question. Where are the super geeks? We’re not talking about the ones like us who can play with computers, write some code, and complete a rubix cube. No, we’re referring to the ones who may work in unrelated fields of science, engineering, etc. They may be unemployed right now. Either way, they have the extra brain power to actually invent something or create a new way to deal with both stopping the leak and cleaning up the mess.

Click to view the full-sized image in a new window.

Even if you have nothing more than an imaginative idea, tell someone. Email it to someone. Whatever you do, though, don’t keep it to yourself. If we had ideas, we would give them. For this reason, the best we can do is try and stimulate some thought and maybe be the catalyst that sparks someone into action.

We call upon a super geek who has what it takes to fit the definition of a hero…an ordinary person, who does extraordinary things. If you’re out there, we need you.

If you’re not the one, pass on this post to someone else. They might be the one, and, ultimately, you would become a contributor in finding the solution.

The image above isn’t intended to make light of the environmental damage. Moreover, it just sums up the ridiculousness of the situation, as a whole, and begs the question: Is this the direction in which we’re headed?