Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Am I the only one...
...that finds this statement incredibly foreboding? "According to the latest estimates from the US Geological Survey, the North Pole region holds about a quarter of the world's oil reserves. As global warming continues to melt polar ice, access to the oil reserves should get easier."
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6 comments:
So, in theory, we should drive more so we can drive more? Breathing is obviously optional.
All joking aside, I fear that people haven't really grasped how ubiquitous petroleum products are. When the oil runs out, it won't be the cars we miss the most- it'll be the pharmaceuticals.
Well, plastics in general will be a hell of a blow I think. This reminds me of something that just blew me away on Vice Travel which I think I'll post now - it might be look into a very believable post-apocalyptic scenario for us.
Not sure if you've heard much about the scrambling that's going on over here to 'protect arctic sovereignty'... it's kind of frightening how everyone with a claim is clambering to claim what will be up-north when the ice is gone... they're more concerned with claiming resources than protecting them. Yet another example of how the issue of environment conservation still isn't being taken seriously enough here in the Great White North (though, not to be for long) :S
I hate to say it, but Canada had claim to the North Pole for years and this was unquestioned - until other nations (namely Russia and now Norway and Denmark) decided that because it had goodies it was actually probably theirs all along and oh sorry didn't they send you the memo?
It's being joked about now and treated as silly, but this new and bizarre 'Arctic arms race' can't end well. (I'm actually a little relieved that Harper decided to build two more military bases up there.)
I guess it begs the question, will building military bases upthere do anything to disuade international powers who see Canada as pushover?
basically, if we can't defend this claim, is there anypoint to declaring it ours?
it's worth noting that there's a similar situation in Norway where the north sea oil is being sold to huge profit (we're talking 3 million barrels a day), but the governement is putting it away, knowing the well will run dry in the next 50 yrs.
Would be interesting to see how the Norwegians handled territorial claims against them when the oil was discovered (back in the 70s if I remember correctly).
At the risk of making a terrible pun, I think this could be the makings of a new cold war not too far down the line.
As for Canada building two more military bases, well it's a sweet gesture but frankly I can't help thinking back to the intro video for Fallout where America annexes Canada to take it's resources for a war with China.
I'm not entirely sure how much of a stretch it is to see that happening in the event of serious conflict over the North Pole's oil and mineral reserves. As for Denmark? Well Russia ain't what it used to be so I'm not sure if they'd annex them but I can certainly see Russia and Denmark eventually joining forces on the other side of the conflict.
As with so many problems vis a vis both the environment and war, the nut of it is that short-term thinking is winning the battle against long-term thinking. If we were to try and guide our governments towards the latter then maybe we'd have a chance.
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