Excitement needs to be moderated by reason

Excitement about the discovery of huge quantities of shale oil in South Australia needs to be moderated by reason.

Shale Oil is unconventional
 and best left in the ground.

World-wide research suggests that humanity would benefit most if that oil remained where it is – 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.