Comes the revolution!

Society is at a loss about how to influence big business!

The idea seem to be not to bite the hand that feeds you, totally forgetting that we all survived before the industrial revolution and the following "progress".

Then, of course we are peace-lovinb people and the thought of stringing up the parasites does not appeal to our sense of "fair play".

Sorry people, we have to respond in the same manner as those who have caused so much misery in the name of progress, and take action in a way they understand and fear.

HIstory will show

'we' missed a number of opportunities to change course!

Latest.

February 2, 2011

"There are about 3,000 natural seeps in oil and natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico and they put out about 12 million gallons of oil and natural gas in the Gulf annually, which is part of the ecosystem. It is the nature of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem, and in some ways it's helpful because it [produced the same microbes] that attacked the oil in this spill ... and actually benefited the environment," Petare said.

The NOAA spokesman said that a focus group is looking into oil tar mats that have been reported to have surfaced on Louisiana beaches.

Petare said that reports that identify the presence of oil are accurate only because the sensitivity of the equipment being used and that any oil deposits cannot be detected by the human eye or even tasted. He added that expected underwater oil plumes are "essentially gone."

Seafood sampling, according to the NOAA representative, had testing that all came back negative for the presence of oil toxins. Petare likened the fading of an oil plume in the Gulf to that of smoke escaping from a smoke stack and becoming less obvious as it travels through the air until it is no longer noticed. ..."

http://www.tri-parishtimes.com/articles/2011/02/02/news/332_53_noaareportofferslittle.txt

Comes the

Comes the revolution!
=======

Canadians are too lazy and too busy filling their faces with fast food, sitting on the chesterfield watching a big screen tv etc to do anything.

It is really amazing how people are just sheep and no wonder politicians , big corps and so called big media get away with what they do.

Baa.

Define 'viable'.

"..If there was a viable alternative to petroleum available,.."

Oh, but there is. Just start doing everything the same way we did before there was petroleum. We are the same species of human. We must be capable of making that choice and managing somehow, if it could be done then.

What we cannot do, of course, is eat our cake and have it, too. All those changes in the life of whomever made them would make one look strange to the friends and neighbour. A lot of those choices would be on the extreme, 'nerdy' side of the spectrum. My family used to go camping every year in an as far as possible non-technological way, and I assure you that many of the solutions we found to every day issues of life would have been on the 'eeuuuw' end of the spectrum for everyone we know today. But if we truly believed that we had our backs against the wall for our very survival, these feelings would have to be overcome, and we would have to wax completely pragmatic, develop harder stomachs.

If the discussion is not about doing that, it is just gossip.

Dispersants

Mopled, you are correct about the dispersant issue. It's a shame that a chemical was used to disperse a natural product that naturally seeps from thousands of vents and crevices.

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/89/i06/8906scene2.html

The take home lesson is clear

While it is true that BAU reigns supreme despite the horrific and highly deceptive behaviour undertaken by the primaries in this industry during the Macondo "incident" what remains to be seen is what have we learned?

Lets hope we fully understand to what length the industry will go to fulfill their agenda and act accordingly.

It is clear that environmental destruction, popular opinion and the interests of populations affected are mere obstacles to be overcome by these players.

We must stop the pipe, tankers and ANY OFFSHPORE DRILLING from ever taking place in our jurisdiction.

It is not enough that 80% of British Columbians are against the development of this industry in our Province. It is not enough that we pose a great geological risk due to earthquakes and the undersea geography, it is not enough that British Columbians do not wish to contribute to GHG Emitting undertakings.

We must stand up and fight or they will win.

Period.

Culture Shift

What won't most of society put up with these days? If anything, the 'cultural anomaly' seem to be occurring so frequently and with alarming consequences that we should simply call it 'cultural apathy'.

For instance consider any of: 9/11, The Global Recession, BP Gulf Spill, The Declining Middle Class, Climate Change, Peak Oil.

These issues, while axiomatically complex and not mono-causal have all occurred within only few generations. We're too entrenched in our day to day lives to realize that we need stop to re-evaluate our situation as a global community, use critical thinking and take a practical approach to reconciling our technology, our resource consumption, our environment and our economic system.

How can we expect any progress socially when technological progress and human empathy do not take precedence over close minded mentality's and profits.

In the interests of transperancy

Its not been officially noted anywhere that the shrimp fisher man Mike Roberts is also an offshore supply vessel operator and has a 500 ton Captains ticket.

People need to work right?

Mike's story is very compelling and I got a chance to talk to him at an event in Liberal member Joyce Murray's riding. I buy what he had to say. And I said that publicly.

And to the gathered folks at that event I spoke about the urgent need for more stringent regulations.

It has been Joyce Murray's party that was the government that set into motion the notion of self regulation of industry, including transportation and packaged contaminated meat.

And we didn't need an oil spill to decimate fisheries on two coasts. Under Liberal fisheries Ministers the stocks were mismanaged. Cripes I could name most of them.

And while Murray decries the shipping industry and pipelines her party and her leader are in favor of the Oilsands. What a hypocrite! Her behavior in whipping up hysteria is shameful. Deceitful politics.

My advice to the well meaning environmental groups is get rid of the radicals that play fast and loose with the facts. Same goes for the other extreme. Anytime Ezra Levant is trotted out its like playing the "Hitler card".

Yes it did to the right! The Koch bros even managed to capture

that anger to decree the uselessness of Government. Remember the one Republican politican called Obama's 20 billion deal a "shakedown" all racial stereotypes acknowledged. What the Obama presidency should teach US is never to cave-never to given an inch-especially over previously won battles which have to be re-fought when the balance of forces changes and counter progressiveness rears it's ugly head. When people or rather if people get fed up with the social relations of capitalism and are sick and tired of being considered so one dimensionally as either a consumer taxpayer-but never as a worker or producer-well if the time ever comes that the mass of people ever get in a position to challange the government-never disarm-never step back. The minute those protestor's go home and a truce is announced and somehow Mubarak manages to get them to swallow his baloney about stepping down in Sept-well in the meantime thousands of "leaders" will be disappeared and another American backed dictator will be in power with a few reforms announced or perhaps even a more draconian strong man will emerge. Those who do not pay attention to history are doomed to repeat it.

R/M old man....

So (by this analogy) you acknowledge that the contaminants are still there - but merely dispersed.

PS

Amazing ain't it, how "3,000 natural seeps" appear in the public domain just when they are needed to whitewash the whole thing?

Interesting links

Here are links to a couple of books which readers may find enlightening, they can be read online in PDF format.

Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller by Jeff Rubin:

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/030735752X/ref=pe_14490_18523360_as_img_2/#reader_030735752X

Death of the Liberal Class by Chris Hedges:
(Samuidave, you will love this one!)

http://www.amazon.ca/reader/0307400743/ref=rdr_sb_li_hist_3&state=01111#reader_0307400743

To Mopled: It isn't a matter of "giving up" oil and going back 100 years; it is a matter of running out of cheap oil, which has allowed society to develop as it is, and which is nowhere near being replaced in all its uses.

Your point about teamsters vs. tractors is relevant, many of the skills required to get by with less energy consumption have been lost to most urban and suburbanites,
who are virtually helpless without their "modern conveniences" and who believe their own unwillingness to change can hold back history. The current North American population is the most spoiled and complacent in human history and will not wake up to the truth until it washes over all of us like a great tide!

There is no oil shortage...there is a refinery shortage.

There is a large number of experts not representing "Big Oil" who would disagree, including Jeff Rubin in the book cited above along with James Kunstler, Jared Diamond, and others.
The powers that be certainly do not want the public waking up to this reality, and constantly reassure us everything is under control. They scorn the "Doomsayers", for even suggesting our present consumption patterns must change or face being changed whether or not we are ready for the new reality.
Most people would rather believe everything is rosy, and are happy to accept the industrialists' propaganda as it allows them to avoid unpleasant truths.
Some of the contributors here seem to have been using Fox News as their main source, when they make light of the Gulf spill's impact; but the people of the Gulf Coast know better!
When we heard Obama's statement that "the oil was all gone" we knew there was no hope for the truth to sink in with the authorities - like dirty diapers stuffed under the bed, the oil may not be visible but it definitely is not gone!

Sustainable pressure needed

The age of oil, gas & coal is gradually coming to an end, perhaps not quickly enough for our own survival. But like tobacco, not in developing countries, which are trying to grab onto globalization's transport benefits. And surely not in the govt. and big corporate boardrooms.

Some of the recent, big fossil fuel corp. blowback; Toronto mayor Ford who wants to scuttle a new subway line, or U.S. Tea Party midwest governors who would stop Obama's rapid passenger commuter train development for more highway infrastructure.

The sad part is that the media control by big advertisers continue to push slightly greenwashed gas guzzlers as if nothing has changed, worse yet, consumers continue to make head in the sand purchases. And then there's the ongoing government shift to "voluntary compliance" by business, partly to reduce taxable costs like enforcement.

It's sad that Europe and a few developing countries are moving ahead of us on issues of sustainability. Even China, despite its coal burning power plants, has declined nuclear as little more than a temporary power source and is now moving well ahead of us in sustainable energy production. (I hate the term "alternative" as it needs to be "mainstream".) Why haven't their solar, wind and green city mega projects been highlighted here in N. America?

Truly sad is how little such energy systems, including energy reduction, has been supported by both main political parties, while our expensive and hazardous fossil fuel exploration (eg. Arctic) and development (eg. Tar Sands) keeps getting grossly subsidized with our taxes.

Yes, we will need fossil fuel energy to produce and develop such other energy sources, but we are surely dragging our feet. Solar, wind and others will ultimately produce the energy to reproduce energy and we can use reduced oil production for materials, instead of burning them. (Deal with disposables, like plastic bags as well).

At this level, the natural Gulf oil seeps and BP or other spills and their water column contamination dispersement, although significant to livelihoods and regional environment, are minimal to the bigger picture.

Why aren't we promoting passive or active home and building energy production, plug in hybrids with fossil fuel as back up, better and faster intra city public transit, LEED building or better, etc.

Excuses abound, change can be uncomfortable, entrenched interests will do whatever to discourage such moves including the fear of short term, competitive disadvantage and loss of profits and jobs, disinformation and worse.

But our changes must happen soon or our planet will change it in much more uncomfortable ways for us and more so, our offspring,. We can, but will we?