Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal ran a story with this headline: "A Major Oil Discovery Is Confirmed in Mexico." As I read the article, it seemed to me that an implicit message in the article was that this was very good news. More is better, right?
As I think back, I can remember scores of articles, over the years, that have celebrated such new discoveries of oil and gas resources. Now we have more oil! That has always been thought a reason to celebrate. Oil runs our world, and now we know, as each new discovery is made, that we aren't going to run out of oil anytime soon.
It is, clearly, time for us to change our way of thinking. Each new discovery of more recoverable oil and gas is one more reason for not stopping our combustion of hydrocarbon fuels, and it is vitally important that we do quit burning discovered, and yet to be discovered, hydrocarbons. That is, we need to stop burning hydrocarbon fuels if we want human civilization to continue.
I have been reading a book by Rachel Maddow, Blowout. Her book is about the oil industry, and it helps make sense out of a number of current events. Based on what I am reading in that book, I think Rachel Maddow would agree with me about the discovery of more oil resources:
Every new discovery is more bad news!
Image Credit:
https://www.posterazzi.com/oil-gusher-at-houston-texas-poster-print-by-mary-evans-grenville-collins-postcard-collection-item-varmel10295236/
Exactly. Because no CEO is going to leave a valuable "asset" just sitting in the ground!
ReplyDeleteThis is also why only collective action will really make any difference. We should all of us make the New Year resolution of doing what we can to move others, and ourselves, in that direction. We need a massive movement to instigate legal and political changes...but we also, each of us, need to comprise that movement. Or we may all be Australia in not so much time!