The Oil Drum

169 comments on DrumBeat: May 31, 2008

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Marco on May 31, 2008 - 10:08am

Ultimately I think the drill/mine more energy for the sake of keeping modern man running is going to win over any environmental concerns. Money and power really do make the world go round - and we will unfortunately be dragged kicking and screaming into a low carbon age.....but not one where carbon rationing has happened because of green concerns.

There is talk all over the world (especially here in the UK) of revisiting all those previously uneconomical coal seams.

Also carbon sequsetration will remain the echelon of the ever hopefull greens and big corps mouthing off about new green technology to seem like they are doing something (whilst actually doing virtually nothing.)

I can't remember specific figures but BP's "green" investment is a drop in the ocean compared to their total profit. Disgusting? Yes but then the shareholders and director always come first.
Furthermore the NOC's don't give amonkeys about being green.

Marco.

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Burgundy on May 31, 2008 - 12:50pm

True, but economic descent will make such moves difficult, as will energy descent (eg South Africa) and possibly Climate Change too (eg. Australia). These overlapping crises will make doing anything extremely difficult. Especially for the UK which would be facing serious problems even without the aforementioned crises.

Governments are going to be in a funk, bombarded from all sides and trying to appease a very angry population (especially the poverty stricken former middle-class). In the UK the impact has hardly been felt and Gordon Brown's popularity is already at lows not seen since the 1940's.

I think there is a general underestimate of just how bad things are going to get (no I don't mean Mad Max bad) and that what we have today and what we are capable of doing today will somehow still be the same in the future. It won't, it will be gone. Economics is the Command and Control system for our civilisation, its destruction via the economic collapse will leave us as helpless as an army without communications.

Yes, things will be attempted, there will be successes and of course enormous failures, but overall it will all be lost in the overarching chaos.