August 2010

British oil company's Arctic find fuels hope of huge new reserves

Here we go again... Spot what's missing in this Daily Mail story and win a prize:

British oil company's Arctic find fuels hope of huge new reserves

The Arctic is set to become the world's last dash for oil after a British energy company reported a discovery off the coast of Greenland. Cairn Energy said it had found oil and gas bearing sands in one of its exploration wells, indicating there was an ‘active hydrocarbon system’ there. The Edinburgh-based company is drilling in a basin the size of the North Sea, meaning the find is potentially of enormous significance. Greenland’s waters could hold 50 billion barrels of crude and gas, enough to meet the energy demands from every country in Europe for almost two years. But Cairn’s find has already attracted the attention of environmental campaigners who are furious that the untouched beauty of the Arctic is being put at risk.

Hope? This is not cause for hope! News like this should strike terror and despair into the hearts of everyone.

Read the whole article. Note the complete lack of any mention of "greenhouse effect", "climate change" or "global warming". Not even from the environmentalists cited.

The article proudly proclaims that this find will power Europe for a few years, so we can keep our selfish, destructive lifestyles going, compounding the effects on planet Earth's ecosystems and the lives of those who follow us. Fabulous news, isn't it? I almost wrote "our planet" there, but I think that meme is part of our problem.

That wonderful press oblivion with regards to the connection between oil consumption and climate change? Well, as I've noted before, the media keeps doing this.