The oil is slippery out there

Reading the news these days is like wow! ten times over. WikiLeaks WikiLeaks reveals imminent Saudi oil peak tells us that peak oil is happening right now in Saudi Arabia and that the country can't help much longer meet the international demand of oil so oil prices will go up more rather than down. Forever? 
Alberta is still going strong on expanding oil sands production but because it's supposed to be "greener" and "ethical" Alberta committed to "greener" oil the Alberta government had a committee set up to look into recent studies of oil sands related environmental and health issues Alberta oilsands committee calls for more rigorous monitoring . The committee found it's time to monitor these impacts more vigorously. But it's not clear to me how they want to go about it and what the actions will be if their findings are not as positive as expected, especially since the government has not put aside money for this purpose in their brand new budget. I call it a bluff, lots of talking, for sure no actions soon. In the meantime the Alberta government fast-tracks the development of a new neighbourhood  in Fort McMurray since with the increase of the oil production more workers are needed and they need to live somewhere Crown Land for sale in Fort McMurray. Proving the short-sightedness of our provincial government is the fact that it can't be bothered to get money off the oil companies now in order to ensure the reclamation of the destroyed land in the future Alberta NDP raises concern about proposed land reclamation program. It seems that this government is incapable of dealing with pressing issues, or simply does not care. Let somebody else deal with it when it's even more urgent. To wait and ask for money when the operation of an oilsands mine comes to an end is plain stupid to me, because it only suits the oil company, definitely not Albertans who will have to shell out the money if the oil company fails to do so. Instead the government should get the money now and invests it in a smart way, but hang on, they are probably not even capable of doing that. After all they are spending money from the Heritage fund now to get through the recession while maintaining the lowest taxes in Canada. The Heritage Fund has been accumulated during the boom to help out with bottle necks in the budget during bad years. Do they really think it's that bad already? Oh suck it up, get the taxes up and keep that fund for the really bad times to come, climate change is not going to stop. Sure, it is meant to hit the countries that contribute little to the cause the hardest and those who contribute lots (hi, North America) not so much. Climate change to have greatest impact on those least responsible   But Canada will look like a moon like landscape even without climate change if oilsands, gas and other mining operations continue big time.

It's sad

I started the continuation of yesterday's post but have not gotten it ready yet. Instead I fitted in a few pages of still the same book while watching baby. Vanessa meets a bloke, environmentalist of course, and at some point he says something like "what we really need is an apocalyptic environmental catastrophe to wipe out  a significant amount of the world's population and then finally people might be willing to stop driving SUVs and actually live responsibly." It sounds more than harsh I know but I agree. It's sad to see hundreds and thousands of animal and plant species die because human beings interfere with just about anything on the planet that's been here way before us. It's sad to see oceans and waterways collapse under the burden of pollution due to the waste dumped into them every day. It's sad to see forests chopped down for fields that will erode anyway, to see land depleted under ever-growing cities, to see soil suffocate under the chemicals of big-scale agriculture and the machinery used for mining. It's sad to see the Earth's resources exploited due to the greediness of industries, economies, consumers, and for the quick buck. Being the "smartest" creatures on Earth we have still no right to trash the planet - so the planet might as well pay us back one day. I hope it wipes out all the SUV drivers and those that live stubbornly in ignorance and denial about our environmental problems. I'm not trying to be overly pessimistic - it just happens to be, kind of looking out the window.  

On some other issue: I came across an interesting article in the Edmonton Journal about the low approval ratings of Alberta's Premier - http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Rising+from+deep+unpopularity/3930721/story.html. 
So when do we get rid of him?   

Where to start?

I wanted to start this blog with my pet peeve the Alberta oil sands but currently there is two other things that keep the media and my mind busy. Alberta is "reviewing" its Parks Act and introduced Bill 29 as the potential law-to-be. This bill does NOT state the conservation and preservation of Alberta's parks (provincial park, areas of ecological importance, wilderness areas) as the prime purpose of the Act. In fact, it wants to give one minister the power to decide on any development in any of the current parks, such as tourism infrastructure. Even though I used to work in the tourist industry I still consider the protection of nature as far more important than the tourist industry. It would probably not stop there anyway. Next thing is big industry moves into those fragile areas for mining or drilling.


The other even more annoying issue is the downturn of Bill C-311, the Climate Change Accountability Act, by the Senate. After this bill has been a proposal only for far too long Senate voted on it without any discussion or any notice of the upcoming vote, practically ensuring that the people in favour of the bill - everybody but the Conservatives - is not present. Very democratic indeed. That's betrayal of the Canadian people, too. I bet Mr Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, was  well aware of what was going to happen. It's obvious that this government avoids being held responsible for the environmental damage their actions cause. A very impolite way of chickening out of a major problem that effects the whole world. Unsurprisingly, this downturn leaves the Harper government once more in a bad light. At the upcoming summit on climate change in Mexico Canada will proudly appear as the world leader in increasing greenhouse gas emissions, Canada against the rest of the world! I wonder what Mr Harper's excuse is for the failure of the Climate Change Accountability Act.     
  
I have written my letter to Ed Stelmach, Premier of Alberta last Friday and my goal for today is to write one to Mr Harper.