Class Review: Exxon, Oil & Corporate Social Responsibility

In class we covered Aliphatic Hydrocarbons (Straight line of Carbon with Hydrogen branches. Ex: Ethane, Isobutene. Acetylene), Aromatic Hydrocarbon which are hexagonal rings of Carbon with Hydrogen attached. Ex: Benzene, Benzo-a-pyrene (looks like a honeycomb) and PAH's or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. We watched some video and discussed the Exxon Valdez spill. Many people know about what is known as one of (if not the) worst man made environmental disaster. In Prince William Sound Alaska the tanker ship Exxon Valdez spilt its oil after crashing onto a reef and spilt 10.9 million of its 54.1 million U.S. gallons (about 200 million litres) of oil. It is estimated that 250,000 to as many as 500,000 seabirds, at least 1,000 sea otters, approximately 12 river otters, 300 harbor seals, 250 bald eagles, and 22 orcas, as well as billions of salmon and herring eggs were killed due to the oil. We talked about some o the controversy such as how the left the bridge to get drunk and the people left in charge were fatigued. After 16 years PAH's still remain and there are numerous section of shoreline where clean up crews never bothered deal with.-Triple Bottom Line Reporting (Economic, environmental, social) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) which includes Interests of society (customers, suppliers, shareholders, communities...), environment and beyond legal obligation, are one of the products of disatsers such as Exxon Valdez.