The narrator in the story “Is Humanity a Special Threat?” says “The smartest thing they (Exxon) could have done after the spill is not one single thing.” This essay is about the Exxon oil spill, specifically about the cleanup failure that Exxon committed. I agree with the narrator’s quote about the oil spill cleanup and that it had a bad effect, not a good one. The cleanup mission was worse then the oil spill. This quote was an expensive failure.

The Exxon oil spill cleanup was a huge billion-dollar mistake by Exxon. Instead of wasting money cleaning up the oil spill Exxon should of let nature clean up the oil spill for free. In the story, “Is Humanity a Special Threat?” the narrator said the cleanup was very expensive and it killed wildlife. You would think that with all the money Exxon used on the cleanup, Exxon would have researched how to clean up the spill and make the right decision on how to clean up the spill. The area Exxon did not clean and spent zero dollars on got cleaner faster then the “cleaned” areas. The untouched areas got clean in only three years. The Exxon spill clean up was expensive and also hurt wildlife.

The cleanup mission hurt animals, land, plants, and the water life. Exxon should of thought longer on how they could clean the water safely for the environment. The clean up chemicals burnt and damaged the water. The soup used to clean the water poisoned many animals that lived in the water. The land was damaged because hundreds of gas-powered vehicles came to try to clean up the oil spill, but hurt the environment instead. The oil spill clean up attempt also hurt animals that relied on other animals like fish.

The Exxon cleanup mission affected the food chain too. Animals that weren’t even on the land or water were also hurt. For example, hawks that weren’t affected by the cleanup mission were affected by the death of fish that died in the water, however, because of the chemicals that Exxon used to clean the oil. Even bears started to starve because the fish were dying. The cleanup mission did not just kill water life. It killed anything that relied on water life for food. If Exxon did not touch the water many different species of animals wouldn’t have been harmed or hurt. That is how the Exxon oil spill hurt, not helped the environment.

As you can see, the Exxon Valdez oil spill clean up was a failure. First, it was a waste of billions of dollars, dollars that were wasted by not helping but hurting the environment. Secondly, the untouched parts of the oil spill got cleaned faster, so they could of left it all untouched. Last, the food chain was completely ruined by the spill and the clean up. That is why the quote from “Is Humanity a Special Threat?” is correct. The Exxon oil spill cleanup was a complete failure in my eyes, and should be in your eyes too.