Excitement about the discovery of huge quantities of shale
oil in South Australia needs to be moderated by reason.
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| Shale Oil is unconventional and best left in the ground. |
The oil itself is not inherently or necessarily a bad thing,
rather it is the lifestyle it encourages and allows.
The sums about "Energy
Returned on Energy Invested" (EROEI) are endless and mean little until we
finally understand that is people who really matter and not an equation that is
more about economics than wellbeing.
Discoveries of
shale oil, an unconventional source, in South Australia’s Arckaringa Basin
near Cobber Pedy sees many overwhelmed by excitement as optimistic pundits
predict 233 billion barrels of oil worth $20 billion; sufficient to make
Australia self-sufficient in oil, an exporter and wealthy.
Oil, little more
than the historical wealth of the planet quarantined in earthen chambers to
ensure its destructive potential remained locked away, has been liberated and so
taken humanity on a wonderful journey.
However, the
party is over.
Living with the
carelessness of irresponsible rich kids we have spent an inheritance that took
billions of years to assemble in less than 300 and the resultant chaos impatiently
stalks our home.
Most everything you can see and touch, irrespective of where
you are, is there because of oil.
Whether or not the oil-madness that has gripped humanity is
good or bad is largely ideological, as is the conversation about the implications
of burning fossil fuels.
Any attempt to understand whether or not we exploit the oil
beneath the Arckaringa Basin hinges,
equally, on our understanding of the unfolding damage we have done to our
atmosphere.
Most every
qualified thinker on earth, including the world’s best climatologists, will
point to the burning of fossil fuels as the reason for climate change and all
would heartily agree that the best place for the Arckaringa oil is in the
ground.
The facts are frightening,
but until we know, understand and accept them, our response to our changing
climate will be absolutely inadequate.
With the 2013
Federal Election campaign is still in the crib, the contenders are already promising
economic growth and such short-term thinking is the antithesis of what is
needed to endure the complexities of climate variances.
We need a
government that has the will to ignore the $20 billion under the Arckaringa
Basin sands and beyond that the political will to create conditions that lead
to a diversified and decentralized Australia in which small is beautiful and
resilience is a prized attribute.
There is little
we can do as individuals to mitigate climate change, but we can advocate for a change
in attitude at our workplaces, and in both our communities and governments.
