Sorry folks, but we are screwed.

Recently Chris Hayes wrote an article for The Nation magazine that set my head spinning. In it he basically laid out the difficulty that we face in getting the Fossil Fuel industry to do the right thing, and help save the planet.

In short it has been calculated that the maximum amount of carbon that can be added to the atmosphere and not increase the global temperature by more than 2 degrees (we've already raised it by 0.8 degrees) without major, catastrophic, global changes to the planet is 565 gigatons. That's it. No more. The problem? The total amount of proven reserves of carbon that is readily extractable using today's technology is 2795 gigatons, fives times as much as the maximum "safe" amount. The value of that carbon? Roughly $20 trillion. So, in order to save the planet, we have to find a way to persuade the Fossil Fuel Industry that the assets that they thought they could use, the assets that some are keeping on their books today even though it is still in the ground, well sorry, but you can't have them. Kiss that $20 trillion goodbye, it has to stay in the earth.

Good luck with that.

Above and beyond the fact that the Fossil Fuel Industry would simply tell us to go fuck ourselves as they caught their breath between bouts of raucous laughter, is that there is a knock-on effect to the damage that their carbon pollution in the atmosphere has caused. Namely, that global warming is opening up more areas to drill. Ten or twenty years ago the idea of drilling for oil in the Arctic, or off the coast of Greenland was inconceivable because it was hellaciously expensive. Now, thanks to the disappearing ice, not only is it economically feasible, they're already doing it. 

In the most recent episode of 'Years of Living Dangerously', a series of documentaries on the Showtime network highlighting the impacts and effects of Global Climate Change, a correspondent (Lesley Stahl) went to Greenland to see the effects of glacial melting firsthand. I'm pretty sure we've all seen similar videos as massive chunks of ice, some the size of Manhattan, fall into the sea, and the massive lakes that now form on top of the ice drain into the depths of the glaciers further accelerating the calving process. What this has meant is that vast areas that were previously off-limits are now viable for oil exploration, and indeed Greenland has granted hundreds of permits for exploration to begin. But what made this segment truly eye-opening was the conversation with the Prime Minister of Greenland, Aleqa Hammond. In the interview Ms. Stahl put forth the suggestion that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to allow the Fossil Fuel industry to explore for oil in Greenland as it could be disastrous for the rest of the planet. The Prime Minister looked at Ms. Stahl as though she had just silently farted and the initial waves of that awful scent had only just begun to invade her olfactory system. And to be honest, why wouldn't she?

As concerned members of the rich capitalist world stand around and point and shake their heads at the devastation their addiction to oil has caused as the Greenland glaciers crash into the sea at an ever-increasing rate, the folks that actually live there are rubbing their hands with glee. Billions of barrels of oil have suddenly become more viable to capture and the prospect of finally sharing in the global wealth the Fossil Fuel Industry creates finally appears to becoming a reality. Who wants to be the one to tell them that they can't participate? Who wants to be the one that says, 'No, for the benefit of the planet we can't allow you to become as rich as we are'? Or, more to the point, if we are to persuade them not to allow drilling, whom exactly will compensate them for 'doing the right thing'? The USA? China? The UN?

So, here we are. In order to stop the temperature of the planet from reaching the point that the lifestyle we have all become accustomed to simply ceasing to exist, all we have to do is persuade the people that are primarily responsible for the increase in the first place, not to drill anymore. Not only that, but they have to leave their reserves in the ground. And give up a metric shit-tonne of money. This would be akin to putting an alcoholic in the middle of a distillery and telling them that not only can't they take a sip from the bottle right in front of them, but they can't have any of the booze in the millions of cases stacked all around them in the distillery's warehouse. Oh, and some of the poorest folks on the planet must be told that they cannot join the party the rest of the modern world has been having for nigh on a hundred years, because the partiers have just suddenly figured out that it is going to kill us all.

The only thing the Fossil Fuel Industry values more than the size of their oil reserves is the politicians in their hip-pockets, and with the prospect of cheap oil money about to flood into Greenland, whom exactly is there to tell either group that the carbon party is over? I can't think of anyone that would stand a snowballs chance in hell.

And that is why I think we are all well and truly screwed.

In defense of Jeremy Clarkson....sort of...

One of the presenters of the highly-rated BBC show 'Top Gear' has reportedly been found to have mumbled the word 'nigger' in some out takes of an episode several years ago when reciting the children's rhyme 'Eenie, meenie, miney, moe..'...

He has recorded what appears to be a genuine and sincere apology,  which has quite predictably, not placated his critics...

....the fact that he supposedly mumbled it twice, before completely changing it on the third take seems to suggest he is NOT a racist, that he WAS aware that that particular word is now verbotten, and that he had tried to make sure that neither of those takes made it to air...

Of course if he had wanted to avoid the controversy entirely he could have simply just not mumbled that word at all, and used something else...

On this occasion, and because like it or not the word 'nigger' is in the original rhyme - for fucks sake I grew up saying it along with millions of other small British children - I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt...

But his earlier 'slope' remark that also generated more than a little justifiable outrage, was completely out of order. Top Gear producers have subsequently admitted that they KNEW that 'slope' was a racist term, but that they were using it in a "light-hearted" manner...Ah, so that makes it alright you see?

Not so much.

To sum up, Clarkson is a deliberately confrontational, self-important, obnoxious, knuckle-dragging, 20th century throwback conservative...but i don't believe he is a racist.  I think he is simply a Grade-A moron.

And I don't think he should be punished for that.