I have been following the Keystone Pipeline debate with off-hand interest. It's a good dirty political fight : Green versus Black... For those who may wonder what on earth I'm talking about, let me explain. There is a filthy black sludge beneath Alberta, Canada, that can, with a lot of effort and added toxins, and a pipeline from Alberta to ports in the Southern USA, be turned into useable petroleum products and a significant profit for the stake-holders. Not against profit, don't get me wrong, just for a planet my descendants can inhabit.
I listen to American Public Radio, you know this, and I heard the most incredible interview with a body from the US State Department. This person is tasked with working out the carbon-cost of the Keystone Pipeline, because President Obama has pledged to veto it if it's construction will lead to greater greenhouse emissions.
Well, he says, the pipeline will not lead to increased carbon in the atmosphere because the stuff will be dug up, processed and transported, anyway, so we may as well have a piece of the action. It's the economy stupid. Look, he suggests, at what's happening in the EU, Australia and Japan. When the economy takes a hit, the greening of energy supply goes by the board.
That's a paraphrase, naturally, but is unanswerable. We're fucked.
Time to stop prophesying that the rain is coming. Time to build an ark. What's the cost of gopher wood these days?
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