Author and journalist Edwin Black to speak on oil dependency
Written by Arielle Stevenson, Oct 17, 2011, 0 Comments
Edwin Black, a Washington D.C. based author and journalist, will speak Oct. 19 on oil dependency and the history of oil as a commodity. Black’s work has been published in The Washington Post, The L.A. Times and The Huffington Post. His latest book, “British Petroleum and the Redline Agreement,” came out this year and discusses the history of BP.
“I thought that because this history is largely unknown, it would put the company into perspective,” Black said.
USFSP is a school very familiar with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010, involving BP. USF was noted early in the aftermath for its research on the oil spill and the effects on the environment. Last month, the College of Marine Science was awarded an $11 million grant for research on the post-oil spill Gulf.
“Because BP’s history is left out of BP’s contemporary public relations program, the Gulf was just another notch in the belt of a company who has been able to do whatever is necessary to whoever necessary in order to get the oil,” Black said.
Black said that the electric car and the hydrogen fuel cell were both invented in the 1830s.
“We never needed to be addicted to oil,” Black said. “It’s important to understand that the company known as BP, which is casting itself as a company that cares about the little guy, has actually been a company steeped in war and massacre since it’s inception.”
Black will speak at USFSP on Monday, Oct.19 from noon to 1 p.m. in Davis 130.
