As the world watches BP tear itself apart in arguably one of the greatest PR blunders regarding natural disasters ever, more people have been killed and more oil is being spilled at a faster rate in the Niger Delta. The accident leading to two major spills occurred in early May of this year; a 40-year-old pipeline gave way, sending a million barrels over seven days into the delta, and another pipeline was attacked by rebels a few weeks later.

The inherent problem with this is that more spills occur in Nigeria, and yet the media pays little attention to them. Regardless of whose fault it is, no one is attending to the needs of the people whose life expectancies are cut short due to the meddling of western oil companies. We become so fixated on the 11 lives lost in the BP rig explosion, yet we take no notice of the one hundred lost in a 2008 rig explosion in the Niger Delta. What most don't realize is that the lives of these people before the companies came in were sustainable and relatively happy given the circumstances of civil war and disease. The presence of the oil companies over the past fifty years has ruined the environment upon which they depended for their livelihood.

So you're probably wondering: what can I do? Well, various environmental organizations, individuals and educational institutions around the world have sent petitions and letters to the Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, begging for an overhaul of Nigeria's regulatory system for oil companies. However, the corrupt nature of the government makes bureaucracy even slower, so grassroots movements to help the people of the delta might make a bigger difference faster. If you do a little research, there are many organizations calling for a change in policy, but very few are devoted solely to getting cleanup efforts under way. This is an opportunity for someone to step up and take the lead in creating an organized non-profit cleanup effort; hopefully someone will step in soon. If you're interested in taking action, visit the "Project" section of Worldeka to team up with individuals and charities and make a difference.