{"id":219,"date":"2010-09-12T17:59:15","date_gmt":"2010-09-12T23:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kevintate.com\/?p=219"},"modified":"2025-08-11T12:23:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T18:23:32","slug":"oil-sustainability-and-our-wilderness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kevintate.com\/?p=219","title":{"rendered":"Oil, Sustainability, and Our Wilderness"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past summer was a constant reminder to me that our use of oil is completely unsustainable.\u00a0 It seems like most people go about their daily lives while not understanding or caring about\u00a0the ramifications of the ongoing quest for oil.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We forget that oil is a finite resource, yet our demand for oil continues to increase because we treat it like an infinite resource.\u00a0 Our waste of oil is incredible: we drive cars that are too big, we make plastic bags and containers out of oil that we use once and then throw away, many of our products are shipped to market in the most inefficient manner possible, and there are many other examples.\u00a0 And the political maneuverings of many countries, especially China and India, are increasingly oriented around acquiring more resources, especially oil and food supplies.\u00a0 But what worries me the most is that as demand for oil has increased we are willing to go to increasing lengths while turning a blind eye to the damage being done to wilderness worldwide.\u00a0 Here are a few examples that I’ve been paying attention to.<\/p>\n

\"Alberta'sAlberta’s tar sands <\/strong>are a perfect example of how in our race for more oil we are being forced to extract oil from increasingly inefficient, and damaging, sources.\u00a0 And\u00a0it’s being done\u00a0with the full support of the Canadian government.\u00a0 The lack of environmental ethics behind these projects, and the careful screening and refutation of any argument against them, is disturbing to say the least.<\/p>\n

\"gulfThe Deepwater Horizon oil spill <\/strong>caused widespread damage in the Gulf of Mexico, and was the biggest oil spill ever.\u00a0 We should be asking ourselves why we have to drill 1.5km<\/em> below the surface of the ocean to get oil.\u00a0 The reason?\u00a0 Because oil that is easy to extract is either already\u00a0gone or under the control of questionable countries and regimes.\u00a0 The lack of controls and standards demonstrated during this spill by the oil industry and the U.S. government is\u00a0frankly inexcusable.\u00a0 Standards have to be raised, because the Deepwater Horizon\u00a0was only one of approximately 2000 rigs designed for deepwater drilling.\u00a0 The pressure for deepwater drilling isn’t going to go away, especially with Brazil’s discovery of a huge oil reservoir off its coast.<\/p>\n

\"parrotsWhat really shocked me this past summer however was learning first-hand about the threat to Yasuni National Park <\/strong>in the Amazon rainforest.\u00a0 My family and I visited Ecuador in June; we stayed near this park and saw a huge flock of wild parrots feeding at a clay lick on the edge of the park.\u00a0 Yasuni is the Amazon basin’s largest reserve and is considered the most\u00a0biologically diverse area on the planet, yet there are already<\/em> oil and mining operations within the park.\u00a0 And Petrobas<\/em>, the national oil of company of Brazil, recently discovered Ecuador’s largest deposit of oil in Yasuni.\u00a0 The temptation to extract it is intense; Rafael Correa, the president of Ecuador,\u00a0wants $350 million per year for the next ten years to leave the oil in Yasuni untouched.\u00a0 But Yasuni is worth it.\u00a0 See www.sosyasuni.org<\/a> for more information.\u00a0\u00a0 This is yet another example of our demand for oil going too far and without ethics.<\/p>\n

What can you do?<\/p>\n