Ecology

 

An Open Letter to BP’s New Chief

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BP Solar Showcase, Birmingham. Credit: Arup Associates

 

Dear Robert Dudley:

 

So, the well is capped. Tony’s out, and you, sir, plan to shrink BP. As the new CEO, you announced this morning that you’ll be selling up to $30 million in assets to cover the cost of damages in the Gulf. Well, Bob (may I call you Bob … ?), that’s a great first step. But don’t do it to raise capital; do it to become a better company.

 

Your next step is simple: Get out of oil. Dump your enormous fossil-fuel investments the same way you dumped enormous amounts of crude into the ocean. As an American, you are well positioned to forge ahead with deep R&D in cleantech, here on American soil. What better way to make up for soiling our waters? Invest in American industry and help make us a leader in the Next Economy. This will have longer-lasting benefits than the $20 billion BP has committed to the clean-up.

 

Once upon a time, BP showed great promise in the development of renewables, especially with the architectural market. The simple-but-smart Solar Showcase pavilion that Arup Associates designed for you was a more interesting application of photovoltaics than most designers ever consider, because it transformed the shape of the building to optimize sun capture. Show more of that ingenuity, Bob. Turn this tragedy into an opportunity, or you might remain stuck in the oil-soaked mud.

 

Yours Truly,

 

Me

.

 
 

Comments (2 Total)

  • Posted by: Anonymous | Time: 12:42 PM Friday, July 30, 2010

    This oil spill is a great metaphor for the impending global warming crisis; we will wake up one morning and all the nay sayers will say we should have done something, we should have been more careful about the risks we took.

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  • Posted by: Lance Hosey | Time: 8:49 AM Wednesday, July 28, 2010

    On NPR this morning, Dudley said BP is making great strides toward making their drills "more failsafe." Uh, Bob, there are no degrees of failsafe-ness; you're either failsafe or not. That's like saying your logic is "sort of fool-proof." It's that kind of thinking that caused this mess in the first place.

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About the Blogger

Lance Hosey

thumbnail image Contributing editor and author of ARCHITECT’s monthly Eco column, Lance Hosey, AIA, LEED AP, Hon. FIGP, is president and CEO of GreenBlue, a nonprofit and consultancy dedicated to environmental innovation and the creative redesign of industry. A registered architect, he is a former director at William McDonough + Partners. With Kira Gould, he is the co-author of Women in Green: Voices of Sustainable Design (2007). His forthcoming book, The Shape of Green: Aesthetics, Ecology, and Design, studies how form and image can enhance conservation, comfort, and community at every scale of design, from products to cities.