When folks were finally putting the finishing touches on the Washington Monument in the 1800s, they wanted to cap the obelisk with something meaningful so they chose the most precious metal they could find: Aluminum. What, you say? Yes, in the 1800’s pure aluminum was more precious than gold or platinum, because the processes for making it in quantity had not been fully developed. Washington’s ghost was probably plenty pleased with the gesture then, but not so much now. Things change and, as we can see with aluminum, some things change “monumentally” (sorry).

The late 1800s also saw the exploits of Frank and Jesse James and Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, as well as the early emergence of the musical grouping and styling that eventually became known as the Barber Shop Quartet. This era also saw the birth of the horseless carriage and our first deep dive into our addiction to petroleum and other fossil fuels.

I am hoping in all of this that folks see a pattern here. For one thing, aluminum is now considered so cheap that we discard it in trashcans and along the side of the road. The James brothers have been gone for five generations and the Rough Riders have been replaced with Humvees and pilotless drones. Why can’t we do the same for oil?

Some could argue that we have not had our “ah ha” moment yet—where we are scared straight and forced to look into the mirror of our souls. This reminds me of the 1980s movie Sid and Nancy, where Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, the quintessential punk rock band, stabs and kills the woman he loves while in the depths of a heroin episode. This is like what is going on with the BP spill in the Gulf: We are simultaneously numbed by our addiction and seemingly unaware that our actions have killed the heart and soul of a region we hold dear and depend on for food and support.

How can anyone, anywhere, in one breath bemoan the Gulf tragedy and in the next call for an end to the deepwater drilling moratorium? This speaks volumes about our addition to oil and the power of the industry to enable it. Sid Vicious had his “moment” in killing Nancy but still ended up dying from his addiction. The question is: Can we do better?

Change happens, and some changes must be big. I think we can do better, we have to. But let me make a suggestion: the ultimate, society-saving solution this time might not come from technology or shifting from one resource to another, like we did from wood to coal or from whale oil to electricity. The change now might just have to come from inside of us. And it will likely have to be a deep and lasting change.

While many are focused on technological, replacement strategies such as pebble bed reactors and algae farming, maybe, we have to figure out first why we need two TVs instead of one. Or why 40 years or so after Paul Ehrlich’s The Population Bomb we seem to honor the Über-mom birth machines amongst us for taking an Alfred E. Newman approach to responsible family planning. And perhaps we should rethink the advisability of programs or activities that encourage consumption rather than conservation; like frequent flyer programs or discounts for non-essential items. Americans do not need incentives to burn through resources wastefully or quickly. (Hint: we should probably actually make resource conservation and respecting human life values instead of saying they are and acting in a completely opposite manner.)

We need to take that long look in the mirror and make course corrections until we see something reflecting back that we like. If we do this properly, and look deep within ourselves, we might find that our ability to live fully and with awareness is what is most precious; not gold, platinum or even aluminum. It would be wonderful if the tragedy in the Gulf would send us into life changing reflection and if future generations could look back on this time as a turning point in our maturity and evolution as a species.