Leave It In The Ground!

Much of Canada and the US are under a thick mantle of snow and record breaking cold temperatures that make everyone dream of...warmth.  And conservatives throughout the land dance and sing and shout and rub their hands with glee because now they know that global warming is a myth and the ice age is coming and there go ten thousand accumulated years of civilization because London, Tokyo, New York and Paris are all going to be served under ice and Siberia and Canada will be converted into giant skating rinks.  Or something equally simple.  Meanwhile the polar caps are still receding and the melting of glaciers has not slowed anywhere.  I would be the last to explain what causes this phenomenon of cold winters in this time of climate change but it seems from what I have read that global warming does not mean exactly that.  What it means is that with less ice and snow in the Arctic and Antarctic to contain things the melting creates a lot of atmospheric havoc triggering storms and swings of temperature making unusually cold winters a very logical outcome to global warming, especially when you think that these cold winters are sporadic or episodic and not an ongoing trend.  Rather like the record hurricanes and typhoons that lately have been laying waste the Philippines and parts of the US Heartland.  Or try to think of that dreadful fateful day in 2005 when that record breaking tsunami destroyed hundreds of thousands of lives on the shores of the Indian Ocean.  Simply put, the tide went out, farther than ever leaving dying fish flopping around on the wet sand.  Gormless locals, poor and hungry ran out onto the wet sand, carrying baskets and bags collecting this sudden bounty from the ocean and before they knew it they were drowning in the advancing wave.

     Does this mean the world is going to end?  Like, how should I know?  I try to live day by day, otherwise it ain't called livin'.   Does it mean we are in for some hard times?  Well, they began a few years ago and now things are getting to approach critical mass.  This doesn't stop our governments from extracting oil and coal from the ground.  One of the current national flaps, when you rule out the weather and Rob Ford is the Enbridge Pipeline which is proposed to carry oil from the tar sands (oops, I mean oil sands.  I don't wish to offend the good burghers of Alberta) to the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador on the shining sea to the right as well as British Columbia, the shining sea on the left.  The Harper Government and his darling little sister the Alison Redford Regime of Alberta want this pipeline.  Big Oil and Big Business want this pipeline.  Almost everyone else says no.  So, looks like they're building the pipeline after all.  Democracy at work in 2014.  While it is not yet a done deal it probably will be and yes we should continue to fight because boldly going down with the ship does more for self-respect and one's sense of honour than jumping with the rats.

     It isn't pipeline or no pipeline.  It needs to be more about it's no oil.  Leave it in the ground.  Respect the dinosaurs' DNA.  RIP.  It simply baffles the imagination that our elected (well, sort of!) leaders continue promoting and endorsing fossil fuels even after decades of cumulative research that says burning this crap is poisoning the planet and accelerating drastic global warming and bringing on large-scale species extinctions to rival the doom of the dinosaurs by asteroid sixty-five million years ago, and ice age species by...well, we still don't know exactly how they died, but this doesn't look good.  Not even if you have the correct politics should fossil fuels be even considered.  I am a huge admirer of Hugo Chavez and his Bolivarian Revolution and what this has done to empower and improve the quality of life for the poorest citizens of Venezuela, not to mention Bolivia and Ecuador.  However I begin to gag just a little bit when this suddenly makes oil good, since Venezuela is one of the world's major oil producers and exporters and guess what is funding the Bolivarian Revolution?  I don't care.  If Senor Chavez' successor, Senor Madera wants to improve the credibility of the Revolution he would do well to phase out petroleum extraction and production altogether and bring in environmentally friendly renewable energy sources.  What?  Is there no sun in Venezuela, no wind?  Are there no tides in Canada's Sea to Shining Sea?  No biomass in Europe?  No geothermal in Mexico?  No sun shining over Saudi Arabia? 

     Enough of this crap.  George Bush, absolutely odious in nearly every other way, was absolutely dead-on when he said that America is addicted to oil.  The major world powers, and the emerging ones for that matter, are like crack addicts, or chronic smokers.  There seems absolutely no regard or care given to the fact that these addictions are killing us.  I believe, among other things, that the forbidden fruit that was presented and eaten in the Garden of Eden (yeah, I know this is myth but please slow down and pay attention because myths tell stories of profound meaning and significance) was actually our rational and intellectual super-development that put us way ahead of even the most intelligent primates (though the jury's still out about crows, ravens and dolphins.)  The act of rebellion against God, this eating the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, was simply that our minds grew more rapidly than our bodies and souls could accommodate.  We became so bright and curious and intellectually far advanced beyond all other life forms, but our moral and ethical sense has remained a million years behind and only now is beginning to slowly catch up.  I am not saying that we have to now check our brains at the door and convert into doofuses  ( 4. doofus : A total fucking idiot, from the Urban Dictionary) and dumb asses.  Rather that our criminally appropriated intellects, the unlawfully acquired fire from the gods illicitly bequeathed to us by Prometheus who still languishes chained to the cliff while the vulture feasts on his liver, have got to be cleansed and redeemed and this has to happen through developing to perfection our ethical sense, our moral compass.

     It's all over the news today about the two brave and heroic protesters who snuck into the Vancouver Board of Trade meeting and were televised standing just behind our own Prime Minister Helmet Head, Stephen Harper, holding up a sign that says "Climate Justice Now." Of course they were immediately removed by security, and handled roughly.  One of them fell backwards down three stairs and if this wasn't are Dear Leader there would likely be grounds for an aggravated assault charge against Steve's security goons.   This action was coordinated by none other than Bridgette DePape, the parliamentary page whom, in 2011 during the first throne speech of the newly elected Harper majority (only in Canada does thirty percent voter support equal a majority government.  Funny math from the government that promised to balance the budget.) famously held up a sign that said "Stop Harper."  She was unfortunately fired.

     One last thing I have to say and then I will bless you with my silence:  Look carefully at this photo.  Stephen Harper and his security guard look like cardboard cut-outs.  Only the protester, Sean Devlin, looks like he is real and alive and living in the moment.