CF / Deadly Pursuit of Extreme Oil
Raping the Planet: Strip mining at Fort McMurray. Greenpeace / Colin O'Connor
The end of easy oil is over. From now on, all the oil we use will be difficult to obtain. So, since renewable fuels are available to us, it follows that we should be working hard to get off fossil fuels. Instead we are cleaning up the mess that more oil has created and planning to get even more difficult-to-obtain oil. This is not just unnecessary — it’s dangerous and stupid.
This is a recording of a very interesting and timely presentation that puts our use of oil in perspective, by expert, author and Hampshire College professor Michael Klare. He talks about the follies and dangers of our unwavering pursuit of extreme energy and describes the geopolitics of the energy crisis.
Oil is now actually “extreme energy” and unconventional rather than normal, because we are now getting it out of shale, from under miles of ocean water, and from tar sands in Canada, for example. It’s become “extreme oil”. We have passed peak oil, so oil is no longer readily available except by these extreme measures of extraction that push the very edges of what is possible. And while they are pushing those edges, some of the very nastiest environmental degradation and pollution is taking place. As a result, the Gulf of Mexico may have a permanent “dead zone” far bigger than anything imagined in the past, and it may not be cleaned up for a century. Is this really what we want to do to our planet for a little bit of energy that we will burn tomorrow and then it’s gone forever? It’s time to say No to fossil fuels and move on to something that makes more sense. Pursuit of extreme oil is a terrible government strategy.
Michael Klare’s entire talk can be downloaded here. Watch, if you want to see the slides, from here.
Klare’s latest book is Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet.
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Climate Files 61 / Question the EPA
I attended the EPA Townhall Meeting and asked a good question. Everyone should question the EPA. Mine was about that nasty Canadian tar sands oil and the pipeline that is spilling oil into the beautiful northern part of one of the Great Lakes states. The EPA must not care very much about that, because they wouldn’t answer a simple question: how does a dirty oil pipeline fit in with the new green economy being promoted in the Great Lakes states? I like this EPA so much better than the last one, but it’s hard to believe it’s so easy to stump the EPA.
Also in this episode, what U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders said about climate change deniers, and what President Obama said about energy and climate in his speech to the business roundtable in Washington DC. Some headlines were covered too, including the exciting news about Bloom Energy, a new company making a revolutionary new type of stand-alone power station. It sounds almost too good to be true — fuel cells that run on oxygen and biomass? Yes, and it’s already being used by companies in Silicon Valley. Here is what I wrote about it on Futurism Now.
The Delta Institute website is here.
The EPA video page where you can watch the entire Townhall meeting from February 23rd is here.
News covered:
- Poor Nations Could Be Paid to Preserve Marine CO2: UN (Reuters)
- Curbing Smokestack Emissions Tops EPA’s 2011-2013 Enforcement Goals (Greenwire)
- Groups ID Toxic Coal Ash Sites in 14 States, Demand Regulations (ENN)
- Tackling Climate Change ‘Urgent,’ President Hu Jintao Says (China Daily)
- Italy Delays New Solar Plan Again, Industry Worried
- World’s Temperature Record To Be Re-analyzed (The Independent)
- Check out the Enbridge Pipeline in my Backyard blog.
- Waste could fuel part of Spain – read here.
- Did you hear about the 126,000 gallon oil spill in northern MN, the 2nd in months?
You can download this episode here, or subscribe on Climate Files Radio.
Final song is by Galactic, “Heart of Steel feat. Irma Thomas” from the MPR song of the day podcast.
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Climate Files 26 / The Ugliest Resource
Alberta Tar Sands
The tar sands of Canada are the dirtiest fossil fuel on the planet so far and they are invested in by T. Boone Pickens. So — why is he a part of developing our new renewable clean energy plans?
Over the last several years Mr. Pickens has acquired a reputation as a green energy promoter, a man behind renewable energy, or at least clean energy. What I found out recently is quite the opposite. He actually invests in companies such as Massey Energy and Suncor, which is responsible for oil from the Alberta tar sands, the ugliest, dirtiest oil on the planet. He also invests in numerous oil and gas companies and is actively exploring for more oil. Does that sound like green renewable energy?
Neither does his natural gas, which adds to our greenhouse gas emissions, from the drilling process through burning it. Then there is the horrible tar sands in Canada, coming to us through various pipelines, including the Alberta Clipper pipeline. You can also read about the pipelines from the tar sands and still send a message to the State Dept. here.
This episode includes clips of Boone Pickens, and Al Gore from the National Clean Energy Summit, and from last year’s Netroots conference. Also clips from Current, a production of CBC, and Macdonald Stainsby, of Oil Sands Truth.
Here is a small graphic of the pipeline from the Tar Sands in Alberta.
Click here to download Climate Terrorism, the Tar Sands (pdf).
Here are a few more websites where you can read about the Canada tar sands.
- Tar Sands Podcast
- H2O Podcast / Earth First Podcast
- Oil Sands Truth
- Dirty Oil Sands
- Stop Tar Sands
Download this episode here or subscribe on the right. Spread the word about the tar sands, and the investment in the dirtiest fossil fuels, by T. Boone Pickens. Too many people think he really wants green energy to help the planet.
Music: We are All Made of Stars, by Moby and in the intro by Ed Alleyne-Johnson.
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