Is the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico a blessing in disguise? Yes — and I’m an environmentalist.

The spill has the potential to become a strong talking point against Barack Obama’s current “drill baby, drill” stance.

Let’s face it, this oil spill was bound to happen. No matter how safe and secure you think you’ve made a rig, it is still carrying millions of barrels of flammable matter — and it’s run by people. People make mistakes all the time.

Such a construction is comparable to giving a lighter to a child. The lighter fluid is contained by plastic and you’d never expect the kid to learn, or even have the coordination, to use it. Well, that is until you see your curtains aflame.

Oil is dirty; that’s it. It is not a solution to our need for energy. If anything, it powered a short period of human history, a golden age of excess and waste. It’s ending now and people, well, are freaking out.

The key, though, is that it is a short period; this was never meant to last. So let’s stop for a second and learn from our mistakes! President Barack Obama was elected at least partially on the platform that he would take a new approach to America’s environmental issues. He ran in support of renewables and “green jobs.” Well, I feel like a child who has been denied a birthday.

According to a New York Times article from March 31, the Obama plan will lift a long-standing ban on drilling off the East Coast. The potential offshore sites from the northern tip of Delaware to mid-Florida will be opened to drilling. Even more shocking is the 130 million acres that will be opened off the coast of Alaska, the last great wilderness of the United States. All of this, according to 30-year-old seismic data, may produce enough oil and natural gas to last us FIVE years.

And this is only the beginning. Tracts in the Gulf of Mexico are expected to be opened up (but it’s OK because they’ll be far enough from the coast so people can’t see them). With news like this, it is not unlikely that this moratorium would be the gateway for drilling anywhere companies get a whiff of oil.

Meanwhile, plans to build a wind farm in Massachusetts are “controversial,” according to NPR this week.

The Times article fairly assessed that, though these plans may please oil companies and those that believe a domestic oil supply will cut our ties to the Middle East, they will make Obama lose many supporters. Well, he’s certainly lost my support.

But perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The oil spill has now reached 400 square feet and is expanding. North winds have been keeping it offshore, but, as we see in Binghamton, weather can change rather rapidly.

This is fresh in the minds of Americans as Obama continues his push for offshore drilling. The new outcry may be enough to halt, or at least stall, the plans from going through. All across the United States, citizens are changing their minds about domestic oil production.

We need to all call our congressional representatives to tell them that, especially after recent events, we cannot support more production of the dirty stuff that is halting America’s progress and damaging our environment and ourselves. In New York state, these representatives are senators Kirsten E. Gillibrand and Charles E. Schumer, and House representatives Michael A. Arcuri and Maurice D. Hinchey.

Their contact information is readily available online. If you care to see a stop to oil spills, and environmental degradation at large, give them hell.