I think I’ve witnessed the most decrepit irony that human beings are ever likely to find themselves in. As the Arctic ice melts for the first time in 16 million years, oil baron’s rejoice with the knowledge that this catastrophe will open up a new frontier in the raping of more resources from this plagued planet. Am I missing something here, or are we just that hell bent on creating our own extinction? It makes sense to me that the ice is melting because we are pumping green house gases at an unprecedented level into the atmosphere causing global warming and for the most part this is considered an undeniable fact or at the very least a very probable hypothesis. The idea of big oil and gas clasping their hands with joy at the coming of the big melt, so they can access previously inaccessible oil and gas fields to prolong their strangle hold on energy and thus their bottom line is unconscionable when one the the Earth’s greatest disasters is imminent. Is there something inherently wrong with us? Are we, as a species, so stupid as to not see the logic of obstinately sucking the last drop of oil from the Earth’s crust as insanity?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ytwhitelight/184257087/

One would have thought that this hitherto unseen event be the last straw, indeed, the straw that broke the camels back. Is it not time that we move away from unsustainable energy to a future…well a future period? We need to re-examine this God we call The Economy and find a new God to worship. Perhaps I am too naive in shifting blame to merely the greed of corporate entities of oil and gas as the cause of this looming catastrophe, because it is all of us that aid and abet in this systemic malady and as such sustain the sickness. Surely the threat of the polar caps disappearing is just cause to implement a total disengagement from our addiction to fossil fuels and consider economic interests as a secondary priority. I’m not at all convinced that moving away from oil and gas is going to make any significant long term effects to the economy anyway. There may possibly be an interval of some brief period where jobs will need to relocated into a new energy paradigm, however if a concerted effort is undertaken there would be a minimal downtime. The technology is pretty much ready I think, the nay sayer’s will undoubtedly say that we can’t do it yet but if as much human resources were used to implement change than is already used to pursue unsustainable means then I don’t believe it unreasonable to assume it highly likely we could achieve a favourable outcome. All we need to do is try but unfortunately if we wait before certainty is upon us it will be a case of too little, too late!

We really can’t afford to wait for corporate giants to steer us in the right direction, they are unwilling to let go of their gold mine and with considerable power being exerted by these entities, it is unlikely that Government will readily defy their interests either. The shift needs to come from you and I. We ultimately hold the power. We consume the goods that the powers that be demand we consume, however we are free to choose the future we want – if only we can let go of the fear that we are shackled by then I am sure humanity can curb tradgedy before it occurs. Procastination will most assuredly end in tradgedy.