It seems to me that the American people have a great desire to see others fail. Why is that? I’ve experienced it personally and I’m sure others have too. My frustration currently comes from watching and hearing others say about President Obama, “I want him to fail and I will do my best to see that he does”. Do you ever wonder what is behind that notion? What is in it for the person or people who wishes failure on a country or an organization? Actually, they do not only wish it but then do their best to make it happen.

From my personal experience with a few organizations, I have watched as roadblock after roadblock was put up to insure that whatever I was doing would result in failure. Things I said were misconstrued, misinterpreted to the greatest negative message that could be gleaned from the words I said and lies being told. Sound familiar?

I am not by any means comparing myself to the President but I do think I have a unique outlook on how he may feel. Blindsided is one word I’d use for it. Going in with the best of intentions and truly believing that if you do your best then others will follow. Not so true. Others will withhold information, make sure to be as unhelpful as they can even if you show good faith by compromising and spending more time attempting to help them that in the end is worth it.

That does not happen in all in all organizations. For example, the one I work with now answers my email, asks if I need any help with anything and says positive things like good job! And I’m so grateful for that.

So here’s why I think people set you up to fail. They are insecure, devious, greedy, self-indulgent,deceitful and have no conscience. They see that you are smarter than they are and can see the whole picture and they don’t want to be exposed for what they really are up to. The easier way to accomplish that is to keep the focus on you and wear you down until you’re too tired to fight anymore.

I give President Obama a lot of credit. He keeps saying, “Let’s find common ground, let’s work together and see what we can agree on and not concentrate on what we don’t.” I, as another eternal optimist hope that this will happen but I fear there are too many hate-mongers in the world now. I’m not suggesting that we give up but that we see them for who they are and what their objective really is. It’s to get you to give up, not care, not vote and let them control everything with no interference. Don’t be lulled into silence.

When did oil, nuclear power, gas and coal become more important than the lives and well being of people and the planet? It seems every day now there is another accident caused by incompetent, thoughtless, greedy corporations who are more interested in the bottom line than in their fellow man’s well being. Or is it more than that? Could it be our greed and consumption that is causing these accidents?

For all the debate about whether offshore oil drilling in particular is too risky, the larger truth is simple: we are digging deeper oil wells and deeper mines because we have used almost all the readily available fossil fuels. Going after this harder-to-reach energy is riskier, for the environment and for the workers.

I remember growing up in town where everyone worked in ‘the mill’. Even then I recognized that money was more important than people. Yes, they were paid well but at what cost? Lost limbs, deafness and a short life span were common place but they all had a truck, a car, a boat, a camp and plenty of money to spend.

Predictions have been made that what we are facing now was bound to happen, just as terrorism was predicted and no one listened. Experts warned of impending terrorist acts but it all fell on deaf ears, just as the warnings of polluting the earth and poisoning our ecosystem fell on deaf ears. I am not sure anyone is really listening even now.

There is a trend that you may have noticed lately due to our increased use of fossil fuels. The more we use, the more accidents happen.

What constitute a severe accident?

An accident is severe, when at least one of the following consequences occurs:

5 or more fatalities

10 or more injuries

200 or more evacuations

far-reaching ban on the consumption of food

release of at least 10000 tons of hydrocarbons

cleanup of a land or water surface of 25 km2 or more

economic damages of at least 5 million USD

“Up to 10,000 miners die every year in Chinese coal mines. Our use of oil costs hundreds to thousands of human lives yearly through accidents. The collapse of two hydro storage dams in 1975 caused the death of 26000 people in China. And Chernobyl not only caused 31 immediate fatalities, but also many future latent fatalities. Insurance companies continue to pay high monetary damages, but there remain other damages to humanity and nature which no one pays.” Energie-Spiegal

April 2010 Methane explosion in West Virginia 25 miners killed

April 2010 Deepwater Horizon (BP oil rig) explodes and sinks with the oil still leaking to this day 11 killed

June 2010 Natural gas line in Texas erupted killing one

There is always a chance of accidents occurring. Energy companies may have neglected safety precautions that could have prevented these tragic events. More important than their neglect is our consumption of energy.

We, the consumers may be the ones that need to carry the burden of blame. We use more energy than countries with similar climates such as Japan, France, Germany and Australia and twice as much per capita as the United Kingdom.

The only countries that use more than we do on a per capita basis are small, oil-rich, deserts like Qatar and Bahrain. Canada, which is considerably colder, less densely populated, and also has such a high footprint in part because it has a lot of energy-intensive extraction industries.

Subsidies for homeownership increase the opportunity for living in the suburb and driving everywhere. The Interstate Highway System has caused a massive imbalance between funding for roads and mass transit, leaving no option for those who have no access to public transportation.

It is time to change American policy in favor of comprehensive energy reform and rethink our consumption. The accidental deaths of American energy company workers can not only be blamed on the corporations. We need to accept our (the consumer) responsibility in contributing to their deaths and injuries. Please support alternative forms of energy.