A better world is possible - Global Commons Institute

Copyright Bruce Nixon 2010. All rights reserved. This electronic copy is provided free for personal, non-commercial use only.
www.brucenixon.com
Section B - Peak Oil and its impact on our lives
World leaders are still calling for the continuation economic growth and of global trade free on a
vast scale. Yet both are dependent on abundant fossil fuel and simply unsustainable. Peak oil and climate
change combine to create a dual crisis, an emergency requiring urgent action we are not taking. We are
behaving as if we can restore the status quo. We are squandering a precious commodity. It’s insanity!
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. Albert
Einstein
Most experts say that oil supplies have peaked or will do so within a few years. The Association for the Study
of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO) says “regular” oil peaked in 2005 and oil and gas combined will peak in 2015.
Three years ago the price was $55 per barrel. In June 2008, before the recession, Gazprom predicted $250 in
2009. In July 2008, it rose to $147. By 19 th January, 2009, it was down to $35, the lowest price for many years!
The recession is keeping consumption and prices down. Ultimately prices will escalate. The International
Energy Agency (IEA) expects oil prices to return to $100 per barrel before 2015.
Oil from tar sands As the best reserves are exhausted, oil companies are starting to extract oil from tar sand
reserves beneath the boreal forest that stretches across Russia, Canada, Alaska and Scandinavia. The forests
destroyed in the process are enormous carbon sinks that absorb large amounts of carbon. Extracting oil in
this way will be harder, costlier and more polluting. Producing oil from tar sands unleashes two to three times
more pollution than conventionally produced oil. This defeats our efforts to cut carbon emissions. The
refining process requires large amounts of toxic chemicals. The current development of oil production from
the oil sands of Alberta is the biggest construction project on the planet. Pristine forests and sensitive
wetlands are being destroyed and toxic lakes are being created. Birds die on contact with the water and
mutated fish are found downstream. Cancer rates amongst aboriginal people living downstream are reported
to be suffering disproportionately high rates of cancer. Ultimately the toxic waste ends up in the Arctic
Ocean, destroying ecosystems on its way.
Yet, oil companies are ruthlessly pursuing this for profit, perpetuating an unsustainable way of life, and acting
as if we did not face a crisis. Such developments involve not only oil companies but many large corporations
supplying them and banks providing capital. Your ban may be involved. For further information and action
you can take, read Ethical Consumer, Stop the Oil Sands, July/August 2009.
George Monbiot says no one really knows when oil production will peak – gas will come later and coal much
later – whether ten or thirty years hence, but warns that we may face simultaneously catastrophic climate
change and an unprecedented global depression. Not only are we running out of oil and natural gas and, in
the long term, coal and uranium, we are running out of most major materials used in manufacturing.
Although coal is likely to last much longer, it is extremely polluting. Carbon capture, not available on a large
scale, cannot be guaranteed to work and is likely to be expensive. Those who favour a nuclear solution argue
that reserves of uranium will last a long time and the amounts required are small. If objections to its use are
accepted, we shall have to find renewable alternatives.
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