You know, there are always moments in our life where we open the newspaper and see horrible news. You want to do something about it,yet you don't know how.
This is one of those moments:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,696597,00.html
Is it the end of the world,now?

Like, right now? No. Possibly soon, but not now.
Right now we're alive and need to make sure we stay that way. Hopefully a major disaster like the gulf spill will provide the impetus we need to adopt more eco-friendly energy systems.

Doubtful. There are still people here chanting "drill, baby, drill" and there are literally dozens of new offshore drilling permits currently awaiting approval by the government. It will be at least a year, if not two before the full effects of this ecological disaster are really felt by the average American (other than those on the Gulf coast) and by then, those permits will be signed and the "drill, baby, drill" people will be happy. Unfortunately, it would probably take a second disaster of this magnitude for people to "wake up" to the fact that we need to get off oil. The question is, what part of our shared ecology are we prepared to sacrifice next?
The thing I find really funny is a lot of the people who are for offshore drilling are against offshore wind farms. Their objection to the wind farms is mostly for aesthetic reasons - they don't want the wind farm to ruin their view of the ocean. Which would you find more aesthetically pleasing, a series of wind turbines on the horizon, quietly spinning in the breeze or a monolithic oil derrick, lit up 24 hours a day, complete with the constant grind of machinery? Better yet, wind turbines or an oil slick?
EDIT - live streaming cam of the oil gusher (yes, it is on BP's own website):
http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/homepage/STAGING/local_assets/bp_homepage/html/rov_stream.html

This disaster is a good example of why the oil industry has too much power. They know they can afford screw ups because, if they do screw up, governments will be too worried about increased oil prices to impose heavy fines.

Actually, in this particular case, the government already forced BP to agree to not pass on any costs associated with the fix or cleanup to the consumer. That includes any fines levied against them.

Oh but will that hold up to practice? Companies like BP are experts at exploiting.

And that's why BP's cleanup efforts have been utterly pathetic. They don't want to spend a dime if they can't recoup it with higher prices, otherwise they'd just do this.

That may be, when nobody other than their cronies in Washington are watching, but this time, everyone is watching them.
Considering the lack of faith everyone has in BP's abilities to fix this, including the Secretary of the Interior, it really wouldn't surprise me to see the government take over the operation and do exactly that.

There's also the problem of having a tanker that does not leak as a lot of things used to transport oil leak because they are not properly maintained. We have to hope the tanker is well sealed when the government buys it. Then the other issue is the leak it's self. I don't know how long it will leak or how much is in there But I think we will need to contain it in order to minimalize any more damage done to the ecology of the ocean.

If they are kept to standards the vessels shouldn't leak at all, and if they do they should be ported as soon as they notice and have that shit fixed.

No things that transport oil leak, or are allowed to at least. The security is rigidly maintained in this respect in most parts of the world.
The well is busted, so the leak itself cannot be contained until it stops leaking. Until then all we can do is try to suck up as much oil as possible before it spreads over too wide an area to contain it. I'm not following the case, so I don't know how well we are doing in this respect.

Bah, you western people and your fancy schmancy solutions. Just use the Russian method: Nuke it!

Not well at all. BP has been using dispersants to deal with the mess, but they were late in getting it out there and the stuff they are using is considered very toxic to aquatic life. On top of that, there are reports that the oil has escaped the Gulf of Mexico due to an unusual current and is now making its way up the East coast of the US. It could reach as far North as the Carolinas, if the leak doesn't stop soon.

But do it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure!

As others have pointed out, a tanker shouldn't leak at all if properly maintained, but even if it did, surely the amount that could leak from a tanker is preferable to the hundreds of thousands of gallons already *in* the ocean that it could potentially collect. The worst-case has already happened - even if the salvage tankers all crashed on a reef in a quadruple Valdez disaster, there would still be less oil in the ocean than there is now, because some of it would stick to their shattered hulls.