McClatchy reports that the Obama Administration has given the go-ahead for Shell Oil to begin exploratory drilling in the Chukchi Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean that borders north-western Alaska.
President Bush admitted in his 2006 State of the Union address that "we have a serious problem, America is addicted to oil." Indeed. In the normal course of addiction, an addict becomes more willing to engage in high-risk behavior and suffer greater negative consequences in order to secure the next fix.
- Rick Steiner, Anchorage Daily News 2/2008
In an ironic twist of news during the initial days of the Copenhagen Climate talks, the U.S. Department of Interior will allow Shell Oil to drill three exploratory wells in Northern Alaska. The area has been the subject of much political controversy, and any move to drill there is naturally opposed by Environmentalists.
Waking up as the sun goes down
Body all in pain
Straight out the door to the worst part of town
Shooting up in vain
Slips all his money to the man
Here we go again, here we go again
Got bags of mercy in the palm of his hand
Shooting up in vain
And so he heads for the closest roof top
And now he's free with the skyline behind
But it won't be long until his high will drop
And then you know what he'll try to find
Such a shame
Now he's back on that hunt for more
Body all in pain
Wanting to get back to where he was before
Shooting up in vain
So now he goes and sells his wedding ring
Here we go again, here we go again
But now he's sold exactly everything
Shooting up in vain
And so he heads for the closest roof top
And now he's free with the skyline behind
But it won't be long until his high will drop
Then you know what he'll try to find
Shooting up in vain
Such a shame
Such a shame
- Eagle Eye Cherry, Shooting Up in Vain
Our manufactured dependence on oil is driving us to destroy our planet, like a junkie will destroy his own home to find that baggie he 'misplaced'. There are alternatives, but they will require political will and economic sacrifices. In fact, There Is No Alternative other than the proposed alternatives to our reliance on fossil fuels. Oil is running out, and we are using it at a faster and faster rate. The waste produced by hydrocarbons is choking our atmosphere. We are experiencing the greatest mass extinction of plant and animal species in 65 million years.
And so, despite a reluctant awareness of what we are doing to our only environment, the Earth, we continue to take pieces of it and turn them into Hell on Earth.
There are still about 26,000 gallons of oil from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill contained in the soil and sand of Alaska's coast.
The effects of an oil spill on the environment are not to be underestimated. Avian and Marine wildlife are damaged for generations. Oil, in case you didn't know, is not water-soluble.
But even without a major crisis such as an oil spill, there still exists the ongoing crisis of displaced animal species, destruction of the environment local to the explored areas and the access roads needed to get to them, and, last but not least, the pollution created by the subsequent use of the extracted oil.
We need to end our addiction to oil, not supplement it with a downward spiral of dangerous fixes. We have the technology, but are we willing to change? Weaning ourselves from fossil fuels will require a complete restructuring of the way in which we live our lives. But unless we wish to live in a world of Famine, Pestilence, War and Death, we have no choice but to work together towards meaningful change.
Perhaps the Obama Administration uncovered these satellite images that were suppressed by the Bush Administration and thought, "What the hell, that part of the planet is already going to be destroyed by climate change, why not drill baby, drill?"
...I don't get it.