It is difficult to prevent oil spills because they are usually accidents. However, oil spills often come from ships traveling in the ocean. One way people can reduce oil in the environment is to reduce the amount of oil they use.
People can walk, take a bus or bicycle instead of a car.
A contingency plan is made when people imagine what would happen if oil spilled, and they pull together the resources they would need to clean it up fast. Go to the Links page for lesson plan help. Also, we reported on a new oil curriculum in our Fall 1998 issue of Splash in California.