Monday, September 4, 2006
Location: Small clearing hidden off Hwy 63 running south from Fort McMurray

On my way back from Fort McMurray and capturing some footage of the oil sands… O man o man! I guess that’s exactly it. MAN. What mankind is capable of constructing. The scale of the development north of Fort McMurray is dumbfounding. I have never seen anything in my life of such an immense scale. It’s the absolute epitome of industry!

Standing at the base of a major oil processing plant, the fumes inescapable, it strikes me that when it comes down to it all, this is one of the hearts of the western world. A heart built by man, not to pump blood, but instead, sweet crude.

The oil being pumped out of these tar sands will be used to fuel not only our cars, but the entire western economy. So here, from this gigantic manmade heart, everything is set into motion. The oil flows down the pipelines and via large tanker trucks to the places of greatest demand. And just like the squeaky wheel that gets the grease, everything starts to move. We make plastics, we fuel factories, we heat homes, we make petroleum based pesticides, we run tractors, we pump water through irrigation systems, we build larger and more complex cities with skyscrapers and big box stores, and we drive, we drive, we drive. The wheels of all of humanity are set in motion.

One thing that is pretty easy to do in this day and age, is harp negatively on oil and gas. When we look at the world, we see global warming, melting ice caps, hurricanes and increasing environmental catastrophe -- most of which is caused by our incessant burning of fossil fuels. In the wake of all this, DOWN WITH BIG OIL!!, becomes the obvious slogan.

But not so fast! It’s so simple to take the easy road, the world is going to shit; time to blame big oil! I personally do this. I blame big oil. Big oil starts wars, big oil is destroying the planet, big oil is wreaking havoc! Now, if you ask me, all of this is true, but the question I’ve had bumping around in my head, is why.

I’ve come to the following, and feel free to write me and express your thoughts on this one, sfdwindpath@gmail.com

You see, big oil is really at the heart of everything we do and everything we’ve built. Nowhere in our western world, or maybe the entire globe, can you find a place where fossil fuels haven’t had a huge impact. Energy is at the heart of the entire technological system we’ve built, and without energy, all of our technology becomes mere clutter. The second part to all of this, is, we LOVE technology. I’ve met so many environmental activists or people who are just down on big oil, and so many of these people, including myself, are talking out of both sides of their mouths. “Down with Big Oil… Man I love the new IPOD… Give me a drive to the store… Down with Big Oil… Did you hear the new It’s Not Black & White album? It’s so good, I just downloaded it on my laptop… I really love Tofu.”

Now there are people out there who are hardcore envirojunkies (no fossil fuels, no packaging, no tv or computers) and those people are my heroes. Not because they are making difficult choices, but because they understand that there really is no other way. They understand that the only way into the future is to go back, and they understand that the changes to our world are rapidly approaching, whether we’re ready or not, so you might as well do your best to get ready. Downsize, or get off the grid. I hold great respect for these types of people.

I kind of lost track… oh yeah… hypocrisy… you see, everything, even tofu, is dependent on fossil fuels. There is almost no way you can escape the fossil fuel paradigm. And based on all of this, we are caught in a place with no easy answers. So maybe we should all stop pretending we have them.

“I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing. ” - Socrates

So what do we do? Well here is what I think our government, and the US government is doing. Get the oil. Get it all! The countries with the most fossil fuels at the end of the day, will be the countries that survive the upcoming hard times. With fossil fuels and our current technological infrastructure we can create almost anything. And most importantly the country with the most fossil fuels at their disposal is also the country with the most military mobility. You can’t fight a war with solar panels, or hydrogen, you need good ol’ fashion sweet crude! This is a cold hard fact, although we all know the real solution is to end war altogether.

The other thing I’m thinking, is if you focus your energy on fossil fuels instead of alternative energy you get the best of both worlds. You get the fossil fuel, easy to use, infrastructure already in place, while everyone else does the difficult work of developing the alternative technology. Later, maybe in the not so distant future, when we actually start to run out of fossil fuels, we can then shift to technology already developed with all it’s kinks worked out. I’m wondering if this is somehow the logic behind the Tar Sands and Mackenzie Gas Project.

The question still remains, is there another way?

You see all of the above is based on competition with other countries and fear of war. Now although all these fears may be very real, I also think they are partially created by an overall lack of vision on the part of our government and leaders. I wonder what Canada would look like if we took the huge subsidies to oil and gas and redirected them to alternative energy development in cooperation with the rest of the world. I wonder what the Canada would look like if our leadership actually gave us the cold hard facts on where we’re headed (maybe they don’t know?) and then allowed us to determine how we actually wanted to move forward. I wonder what the world would look like if a few leaders actually stood up and said, enough is enough, the time for world peace is NOW, and putting aside their own countries self interests, actually worked towards that goal. I know these statements are all fairly idealistic, and that the global situation is a complex one, but it seems to me, that very few leaders are actually presenting anything visionary. No leaders seem to be challenging our current behind-the-times model that dates back to the industrial revolution. And this lack of creativity and vision is what I see as our biggest problem. I think it is this lack of vision, creativity and thus versatility that will probably end us up in a serious shit-storm in the next few decades.

I only know one thing for certain, just like Socrates, I don’t have any clue regarding what the F&%|< is really going on! But I have a feeling we’re in deep trouble. And maybe that’s it, maybe it’s all about feelings and intuition? And as cliché as it sounds, maybe it’s time to stop following our heads, and instead, start following our hearts.

Peace,
D