The only environmental NGO on the East Coast (based here in Halifax!) was asked their opinion on offshore drilling near Shelburne. They responded by saying we should have the blowout equipment somewhere closely.
Climate change is the BIGGEST FUCKING ISSUE facing the human species and THIS is what you have to say about risky, offshore oil drilling? Have you forgotten about the BP disaster?
Meanwhile, scientists are telling the world we need to keep 80% of known fossil fuel reserves in the ground to stay within 2 degrees of warming. This is the threshold. If we go past it, we will see disastrous, runaway climate change.
….
FUCK YOU VERY MUCH. —We want better
This article appears in Oct 22-28, 2015.
I wouldn’t mind it a bit warmer. And if the province was a bit richer, I’d welcome that too.
I am not OB but I do agree with them. Why not make the province richer by being one of the first to produce renewable energy. There is high demand for it. Imagine not having to pay an oil bill every month. Imagine not having to pay Emera for your electricity. I call that a win/win. Also, climate change does not equal warmer weather, it equals bat-shit crazy storms like we had last winter and worse occurring on a regular basis, food shortages, even more of the refugees that people seem to hate so much — maybe even us. I don’t understand this love affair with fossil fuels, the alternative is a million times better. Oh wait, never mind, I do understand the love affair with fossil fuels google “Petrodollar” and you will as well.
The problem is that the sensible people get shut out of the conversation by the climate change deniers, fear mongers, and magical thinkers who all shout much louder and spread shite.
The switch to renewables will be expensive (billions in upfront capital) and will take a long time. It won’t be overnight and provide free energy as the magical thinkers seem to believe.
And we will still need fossil fuels to run our cars and heat many of our home for many years to come. The entire fleet of vehicles and oil furnaces isn’t going to be replaced in a few years. There’s no getting around it.
What’s needed is for the federal and provincial governments to come up with a plan for an orderly and timely migration to renewable energy over the coming years. Hopefully, the Trudeau Liberals will take the lead on this.
Producing the means for renewable energy sources and implementing them on mass are absolutely two very different things, there’s no question about that. You also need oils and plastics to make things like solar cells. I’m not saying it would happen tomorrow but the sooner the better. I am not holding my breath on Trudeau doing a whole lot differently than the outgoing government.
Naomi Kline (Cline?, I forgot) talks about this issue OB. Many climate activists will make concessions like this instead of pushing a more “extreme” agenda. Unfortunately making these concessions does put us all at greater risk, however they may be required to move us away from fossil fuels at all. I’m not fully on board with Ms. Kline’s critique of many climate activists, as I think some progress is better than no progress. We risk getting no traction at all if we push an agenda that’s too hardcore.
So what’s better, allowing this work to happen and pushing for better response to potential disasters, or trying to deny the work from happening at all and risk not getting any increase in responsiveness to potential disasters?
Ho!st and Caballo both make good points here too.