Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Port Valdez is a free port where the southern 

terminus of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.  Many tankers go to this port and it handles more than 1.5 million barrels of crude oil. Port small boat harbor is an economic resource for the community. The harbor stimulates tourism and maritime industries. At Prince William Sound there are facilities measuring incoming oil, two loading berths and a power plant. It is inhabited by salmon, sea otters, seals and sea birds.

The state of Alaska or the federal government was not prepared to deal with an oil spill. Since neither the state nor federal government had an idea how to deal with the problem, they did not have proper ways of dealing with the problem. They did not have adequate equipment, personnel to handle major spills, or knowledge to remove the oil.

On March 24, 1989, the most devastating human caused disaster occurred. An oil tanker belonging to Exxon named Exxon Valdez was carrying about 53 million gallons of crude oil. The captain of the tanker changed before the accident occurred. When Captain Hazelwood took charge and ran aground on Blight Reef. This accident released 11 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Alaska. The oil could not be isolated and moved down Alaska, approximately traveling 1,300 miles. This is quite a disaster because it affected a lot of marine life. There were many dead bird, sea otters, harbor seals, bald eagles, and killer whales found, but there is no clear death toll of animals because their carcasses would sink. The oil spill would also affected the people living in the community. Those who relied on fishing for their income were unable to fish and tourism in the area decreased.

There were many safety precautions to avoid tanker crashes like the Raytheon Collision Avoidance System radar, which indicates an impending collision. Those in the oil industry promised to install state-of-the-art iceberg monitoring equipment but they never did. Exxon Valdez was sailing sailing outside the normal sea land, which then would have avoided small icebergs in the area. The crew was over worked and they would work 12-14 hour shift.The coast guard tanker inspection was not done to Exxon Valdez.

The Exxon Valdez oil spill is still not fully cleaned up, even after 25 years. Exxon set up a program to compensate oil spill victims. The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council was established to develop research, restoration and habitat conservation plans for the areas affected by the oil spill. Those who survey the land, still find oil that is almost as toxic as the first few weeks after the spill. The spill cleanup had 10,000 workers, 1,000 boats, and about 100 airplanes and helicopters. They were named Exxon’s army, navy and air force.  It took more than four summers of cleanup efforts before it was called off. Even after 25 years, there is an estimated 16,000-25,000 gallons remain on the beaches and extend up to 450 miles. Many techniques were used to clean the shore, such as hot water, high-pressure cold-water treatment, mechanical clean up, and solvents and chemical agents.

Exxon has spent up to $4.3 billion in cleanup costs, legal damages, settlements and fines. In a class-action lawsuit, Exxon was to pay $507 million plus interest, which was reduced from the initial amount of $5 billion.

In 1990, the U.S. Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. This act would improve the nation’s ability to prevent and respond to oil spills by establishing provisions. This would expand the government’s capacity to provide money and necessary resources to tackle to oil spills. Alaska also took matters into their own hands by requiring two tugboats to accompany every loaded tanker from Valdez out through Prince William Sound to Hinchinbrook Entrance. Congress as well took matters into their own hand by requiring all tankers to be double-hulled by 2015. 

Sources:

http://www.evostc.state.ak.us/index.cfm?FA=facts.QA

http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/oil/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaRdUHrUnBs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill

http://www.npr.org/2014/03/24/292411071/25-years-after-spill-alaska-town-struggles-back-from-dead-zone

http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/exxon-valdez-oil-spill-report-president-executive-summary

Globalization: Adidas

When I was a kid starting to play soccer, I remember my parents would always buy me Adidas cleats. Even today, I enjoy buying from Adidas; it may just be because we have an Adidas store at our outlets.  Adidas has both expanded and taken this world to a new level of athletics.

Adidas was founded by Adolf Dassler following the company slit between him and his brother, who later established Puma. There different brands within Adidas, Reebok, Taylor Made-Adidas, Rockport and is stakeholder of 9.4% of FC Bayern Munich. It all started when Dassler created the famous three striped football cleat and had the 1954 Germany team wear the cleats. These cleats were lighter than the English boots many athletes would wear. From then on, the company expanded to different products such as apparel.

Adidas has a specific way of targeting people, mostly sport teens.  Adidas equipped 33 countries and 6000 Olympic athletes in the last summer Olympic. These athletes in total won 220 medals (70 gold medals), which resulted in a 50% increase in apparel sales. Adidas has contracted many famous athletes and teams to show off their brand. The company would eventually expand to 65 different counties in the world and employing 775,000 people. Adidas is one of the biggest companies in Europe and is the second, behind Nike, globally. Its main headquarters are in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Adidas, like many large companies outsource their jobs to developing countries. The outsourcing of jobs has led to many controversies in Indonesia and china.

The positive effect of the globalization of Adidas is that it has brought many jobs to developing countries. The bad effect would be that the workers in the factories in developing countries are not being paid fairly and the working conditions are horrible. The companies established in China have faced many strikes against the work conditions or the amount of pay many workers are paid. This year, there have been 202 reported incidents in the first quarter this year in China alone. In a recent study, Chinese workers are said to work from 8am to 11pm, working over the legal limit of overtime. In Adidas Chinese factories, workers are hired with temporary contracts. That it quite significant I must admit and I am sure that it has doubled since the first quarter.

There has also been a dilemma in Indonesia were they are paid 34p an hour which is below the minimum wage. This resulted in works skipping meals to make ends meet and to an extreme level, factory workers passing out during their shifts. In Indonesia, there is lack of basic dignity and respect. For example, workers need to ask the permission of their managers to use the toilet. They are also verbally abused, are thrown shoes or even slapped across the face. I am sure this type of behavior is not only exhibited in Indonesia. These workers have the right to protest against their factories in my opinion. The only thing these workers want is a thirty percent raise. 

Honestly, think that is quite attainable since 

Adidas is one of the largest companies in the world.

I do believe that Adidas is capable of raising the pay for workers and improving working conditions. If Adidas has enough money to sponsor both the winter and summer Olympics and the FIFA World Cup, I am sure they can put out some money for their workers. As much as I would love to see this happen, I am oblivious to say it will happen in the future.  Nevertheless, it is possible to bring to the people purchasing Adidas products the facts. The facts that involve where their money is going towards, and the working conditions the workers face to bring make the product they are purchasing.

http://www.adidas-group.com/en/group/history/
http://www.waronwant.org/attachments/Adidas%20briefing.pdf
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/22/strike-spreads-chinese-supplier-adidas-nike-yeu-yuen-factory-jiangxi-guangdong
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/worsening-china-factory-strike-threatens-adidas-nike-sneakers-n87951 http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/06/12/dismissed-workers-protest-against-adidas-ahead-world-cup.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adidas