Global Warming Unleashes the Dogs of War: The Arctic Oil Carve Up

  

If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal.

John Lennon

 Earlier this month scientists at the NSIDC warned that at current rates, the Arctic could be ice-free in the summer by 2030 and pointed the finger at climate change for the record melting.  Mail on Line News - May 14, 2011

I have previously written about the heart wrenching affects of global warming in my blog posts: What Would You Give Up?, Why I Choose Vegetarianism and How You Can Help Save the Planet by Reducing Your Meat Consumption, and Lessons from Auntie Ro: Choose Good Wood.   The fact is that due to rising temperatures in the Arctic, the ice is melting at twice the average rate of the rest of the planet.  According to the Natural Resources Defense Council:

The polar ice cap as a whole is shrinking. Images from NASA satellites show that the area of permanent ice cover is contracting at a rate of 9 percent each decade. If this trend continues, summers in the Arctic could become ice-free by the end of the century.

Some scientists are even predicting that this could happen by the year 2030.  To add insult to injury the melt has led Arctic nations such as the United States (I guess Alaska makes us an "Arctic" nation), Russia and Canada to look into the opening of shipping routes through the Arctic region, opening of a Northwest passage, and drilling of new oil and gas fields.  Talk about a big slap in the face to Mother Earth as well as the future of the human race as world powers seek new sources of fossil fuel. 

This week the government of Greenland awarded Cairn Energy, (who already has 11 licenses to drill in the region), licenses to drill for oil off Disko Island.  Shell, Exxon and Chevron already own licenses nearby, but have not commenced drilling yet.   Naturally Cairn Energy is already assuring us all that their drilling will be "safe" and "sustainable"    The Greenlandic government will not reveal Cairn's spill response plans, however according to Greenpeace's Briefing last year Cairn had 14 response vessels in the area, as compared to BP oil's 6500 ship response to its spill in the Gulf of Mexico.   Talk about putting out a forest fire with a water pistol.  Does any of this ring a bell?

Now that I have your environmentalist juices flowing, there is something else extremely crucial that I must share with you.  Not only has melting of the polar ice cap opened this environmentally fragile region to exploration in the pursuit of fossil fuels, BUT the world's powers are already scrambling for a piece of the pie - the biggest piece they can grab.  Are you with me here?

I have always believed the quest for oil to be synonymous with WAR and in many respects, in modern history the reason for all major conflicts. I am hopelessly on point it would seem.  On May 12, 2011 the following cable was posted on wikileaks:

"Senior politicians from the Arctic nations – including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - are meeting this week at the Arctic Council meeting in Greenland to discuss issues including oil exploration and climate change."

In reaction, Greenpeace oil campaigner Ben Ayliffe said:

“These latest Wikileaks revelations expose something profoundly concerning. Instead of seeing the melting of the Arctic ice cap as a spur to action on climate change, the leaders of the Arctic nations are instead investing in military hardware to fight for the oil beneath it. They’re preparing to fight to extract the very fossil fuels that caused the melting in the first place. It’s like pouring gasoline on a fire.”

Global warming has released the dogs of war, with many global powers attempting to lay claim to the sensitive region.  Opportunism is at its worst.    I strongly recommend the article on the Arctic Oil "Carve Up" for all of the gory details and information as to NATO's position, and the alarming comments from the representatives of the various world powers, and plans for military build up as the sickening drama unfolds.

Ben Ayliffe of Greenpeace continued:

“As so often before, this new military build-up is all about oil. We need our political leaders to make a final push to get us off oil by investing in the clean, cutting-edge technologies that can power our economies without destroying the environment or sparking tension amid the icebergs and glaciers of the High North. Rather than pumping oil out of the Arctic, we should be extracting it from our car engines by making them much more efficient.”

I have asked you before, and I will ask you again:  What Would You Give Up?  For a better tomorrow?  To save the environment?   Now I am asking you, what would you give up for the sake of world peace?   We are all involved, every single one of us . . . as the Dalai Lama so poignantly expresses in his article An Ethical Approach to Environmental Protection,

Peace and the survival of life on earth as we know it are threatened by human activities which lack a commitment to humanitarian values. Destruction of nature and nature resources results from ignorance, greed and lack of respect for the earth's living things.

This lack of respect extends even to earth's human descendants, the future generations who will inherit a vastly degraded planet if world peace does not become a reality, and destruction of the natural environment continues at the present rate.

Love and light dear ones. 

Ro.