Thursday August 24, 2006
Location: Yellowknife

So I only planned on being here until Tuesday, but alas, like with everywhere, I’m still here as there have been some really interesting developments.

I arrived here early last Friday morning just in time to make it to the Joint Review Panel Hearings on the Mackenzie Gas Project. This is a space where the public can voice their concerns regarding the pipeline and it’s development. Everyone who stood up to speak was clearly deeply concerned about the pipeline, questioning the rational behind it all. Why pump clean natural gas out of the NWT, transport it thousands of kilometers using a 7billion dollar pipeline project, only then, to use this clean fuel for the further development of the tar sands which in turn will greatly increase Canada’s contribution to greenhouse gases?

The answer as far as I’m concerned, is because a) the world is running out of oil, and b) Canada/USA will make large sums of money off the project since it doesn’t seem like any of us are planning on driving any less, any time soon. In addition, our and the entire world’s economy is driven by cheap, easily transportable, fossil fuels. If the fossil fuels don’t flow economies collapse, sending us into a potentially never-ending depression. There are no alternatives out there that will do the same job as fossil fuels. Our only other option is to lower our standard of living and revamp creations like the big box store and suburban sprawl. But, as I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, necessity is the mother of invention, and based on our actions, as far as I can see, most of us seem pretty content with our current patterns of destruction.

But does that make the pipeline the right thing to do. To be honest I have no idea. All I can say is, I personally and intuitively FEEL that building the pipeline will open up a pandora’s box in the north. What is done, can never be undone.

After looking at the pipeline project and how profits will be distributed, it will make no sense for the pipeline to run at half capacity. Currently three anchor field drilling pads are planned in the far north, but in order for the pipeline to remain full, I expect that many more feeder lines will have to be built over the next 20-30-40 years throughout the NWT. I feel that if the pipeline is built, the attached image of the total potential pipeline impact will probably end up being very close to accurate. Why build a pipeline if you’re going to leave natural gas in the ground… if you spend 7 billion dollars building something, you might as well use it. Sucking the NWT natural gas reserves dry! Not to mention that more and more people around the world are buying into car/consumption culture and fossil fuels are a limited resource, so, duh, we NEED that fuel!

Now, things change, so really what’s the big deal, maybe it’s all part of the process for humanity to build the MGP? And it’s all part of the process for Canadians to destroy one of the only natural landscapes we have left. Now, proponents say that the pipeline will be fairly low impact. But seriously, how can something of this scale be low impact, it is simple cause and effect. You can’t pump billions of dollars of natural gas out of the ground, burn it for whatever purpose (say tar sands), and say that it’s going to have a low environmental impact. That’s a completely ridiculous statement! The MGP will change the north and as the fuel flows, will affect the entire globe. The question becomes, will that impact be seen as positive or negative by our great grandchildren in the years to come. I would say, at this point, the bigger question is, how many of our families will survive to see great grandchildren?

Maybe, as I’ve previously suggested, everything is going according to plan, just maybe not a human conscious plan, maybe it makes perfect sense according to natural laws for the global human population to have its numbers greatly reduced due to depletion of resources. When you look around at everything we’re doing in the world, it may not be such a bad thing, at least as far as the planet is concerned. And, this wouldn’t be the first time. When we look at history we see that nature has always held humanity in check. Throughout history countless civilizations have repeatedly lost touch with the sustainable balance of nature, rapidly using up their resources as they focused on growth and prosperity rather than long term planning.

“Chapter 14 asks the perplexing question arising for every past society that ended up destroying itself, and that will perplex future earthlings if we too end up destroying ourselves: how could a society fail to have seen the dangers that seem so clear to us in retrospect? Can we say that their end was the inhabitants’ own fault, or that they were instead tragic victims of insoluble problems? How much past environmental damage was unintentional and imperceptible, and how much was perversely wrought by people acting in full awareness of the consequences? For instance, what were Easter Islanders saying as they cut down the last tree on their island? It turns out that group decision-making can be undone by a whole series of factors, beginning with failure to anticipate or perceive a problem, and proceeding through conflicts of interest that leave some members of the group to pursue goals good for themselves but bad for the rest of the group.”

- Excerpt taken from the introduction to Jared Diamond’s book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Given to me by a friend in Wrigley, I’m reading it now.

Maybe it’s all part of the human condition. Another quote from the film The Day After,

“Stupidity always finds a way.”

Now as I sit here in my fossil fueled van being critical of the MGP… the question becomes what is the solution. Stop driving, stop buying junk, reduce your ecological footprint.. do it NOW! Sadly, it’s not going to happen, we’re like fossil fuel junkies, we are addicted to this stuff, and the only intervention will be an intervention by force (mother nature or otherwise). I personally feel that it’s coming. Call me Mr. Doom and Gloom, but I think we’re living in interesting times, and feel that in my lifetime there will be some seriously difficult lessons learned by us all. Our world, that we hold onto so tightly, is rapidly changing, far beyond the limits of our control.

Peace,
d