Saturday 14 January 2012

Jan 14 2012


January 14th 2012
Feeling the need to speak out.  Is this a radical act?  Am I a Radical? Currently in the affairs of Canada this has become a question.
I was just reading about the Costa Concordia running on the rocks with significant loss of life. A major cruise ship just running into a rock. Somewhat similar no doubt to the sinking of The Queen of The North. Maybe when the documentation went to the bank to finance this ship it had descriptions of the risk factors involved in its operation.  Risk Factors are highly codified in this day and age.  Insurance companies can tell you exactly with numbers exactly what your risk factors are.  I would imagine that the risk factors for running a major cruise ship on the rocks in calm seas with good visibility are pretty low. And yet it has happened. 
Case closed on the possibility of a tanker running aground on the proposed Kitimat route. Just when? Not If.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
I am not even going to go to the place where we are watching the planetary climate change before our eyes. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we need to move away from fossil fuels to renewables with all possible haste. Even Oil company CEO’s agree with this. Disagreements are rampant on how this might play out.
And so battle lines are being drawn.  It has all the markings of a serious battle.
Also today another piece of news across my virtual desk was from Dr David Hughes, a retired National Research Council geologist who has been described as Canada’s Mr Peak Oil. Dr Hughes now travels around speaking to anyone who will listen about the impacts of peak oil.  They are indeed huge impacts and Canada has no plan to deal with them.  Dr Hughes maintains that he thinks is would be a good idea for Canada to have a plan and what’s more he says the Endridge pipeline is not a good fit with any plan that even a cursory examination of the evidence would suggest.
Strong language but reading this report made my heart sing with joy. Never had I read a more rational and comprehensive examination of the facts before us. I absolutely encourage everyone to seek out and read the full report.  
Is this a radical act? Maybe at this particular moment in Canadian History it is. And I will stand by it. 
Perhaps the conflict is not so much about environmental catastrophe either local or global. Perhaps the conflict is about Canada’s long term energy security versus the Chinese who happen to own a bunch of oil that happens to be under our real estate, somewhat like the Americans and Iraq.