Last week while Crow was visiting an old friend in the far north he was witness to an unexpected, albeit happy, event when the Shell Oil deep sea drilling rig was towed away from the Alaska coast. After more than eight years of planning and drilling, costing more than $8 billion, Royal Dutch Shell announced that it is shutting down its plans to drill for oil in the Arctic. The bombshell announcement dooms any chance of offshore oil development in the U.S. Arctic for years. :)
Of course, if we want to continue having nice things like polar bears, healthy forests and decent air to breathe what really needs to happen is that most of the fossil fuels that remain in the ground need to be left right where they are. You can read more about that here. As you can well imagine, the big oil companies don't think this is a good idea at all.
Maybe the day will come when a spare $7 billion here and there will be used to develop useful strategies for alternative energy and public work projects. Such things have been known to happen.
♡
Crow was glad of his snifter of Remy Martin when he returned from this journey.
YES! Great news about Shell's withdrawal in the Arctic! I like how you bring in the Greenpeace and the anti-apartheid movements and how successful they were in the past, a great reminder that we can still work on bringing in change, like divestment away from oil. And VOTE anti Herr H on Oct 19th here in Canada, hopefully for more Greens!
ReplyDeleteLovely art work to commemorate a victory! Have another glass of Remy Martin fro me, dear Crow and Susan!
I'm so glad you noticed this too, Marja-Leena. Did you also see the news about the big protest in Portland against the Shell icebreaker this past July? Greenpeace members hung on cables from the St. John's Bridge while hundreds of kayakers and canoeists did their best to block the Willamette. I was so proud of my former neighbors. People are definitely taking more and more notice.
DeleteCrow and I are very pleased to know you like the new picture. Skol!
I have to say that I was surprised and gladdened by the Shell pull-out. It just didn't appear to be a financially viable project. Loved the artwork!
ReplyDeleteAt $50 a barrel, it just wasn't possible for them to continue to drill - never mind the fact there were a number of weather related problems that weren't going to improve. They'd hoped for a field with billions of barrels of oil but, thankfully, didn't find it. I'm very relieved too.
Deleteas long as someone stands to make money off fossil fuel then it'll just go on and on, it gets depressing thinking about it.
ReplyDeleteSad but true, Claire. I've heard it said 'we are the comet'.
Deletethat's a good way of saying the human race is a nasty parasite.. lol
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DeleteAs always, great watercolor. Tell Crow that Polar bears are not a cuddly as they seem, and the climate change means fewer seals for them to munch on, they may be turning to other 'sources'.
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure we've heard the last of arctic oil drilling......they didn't say they'd stopped forever, and they didn't publish what they found, just that it didn't match their current needs. I'm suspicious that the effective protest and public opinion is simply making them pause for a bit (and current prices support that), only to return when oil prices rise and they perceive a more receptive public
DeleteI'm happy you like the picture, Mike. Don't worry about Crow. Any polar bear trying to munch on him would find the meal a little insubstantial.
I’m afraid you’re correct. When the price of petroleum rises sufficiently, it will be cost effective for them to return. The same is true of Conoco Phillips. Meanwhile, this circumstance might give us time to degrade the demand-for-oil in the world.
thank you, sweet susan, for this wonderful post and news.... OMFG!!!! Now if they'd just stop with the OMFG fracking, maybe we'd be doing a whole helluva lot better. Did you know 'helluva' is actually a word? Neither did I...
ReplyDeleteSo i am sitting here gazing out at yet another drought day in HOT California, despising the humans that simply don't seem to realize what is going on here. it makes we want to scream... WE NEED WATER PEOPLE! sighs.... ah welll.... methinks they aren't listening or noticing and continue on as if... well, fill in the blank there. when their wells run dry or the shower stops bathing their lily white butts, perhaps then... in the meantime, the central valley has dropped 5 feet into the hell that is no ground water.
i am in a rather petulant mood, my dear, and so will not leave it all here. i love crow up there and think you are perhaps back at the drawing board again? he is sporting a coat i'd love if ever it were to grow cold again. those spiffy boots too ;)
hoping you are well, my dear friend. i am not much in the mood of late to go online, i'm eschewing all forms of online activity unless i HAVE too... probably because i'm
"trying" to sell a little artwork... ummm, yes. i think you know all about that. anyway thank you for the smiles.... i've done my happy dance along with my rain dance for today. i'm getting plenty of exercise doing rain dances every day as i cha cha out to turn on my little dripper for the birds to have a drink. i am becoming, all by myself without outside funding(what?), the single solitary source of water for many strange birds i've never seen before. then the other day, as i was dawdling with the hose, i spied a couple of regal proportion. a stag with a rack of mega-proportions with his doe, looking on wistfully at my dribbling water. immediately i called the farmer to turn on the old water trough at the gate down below for the poor beasts... and guess what? it actually worked!!! float and all. that means it will stay filled for them... but it made me sad anyway.
such is life in my world but i am glad my grands kids kids might still see polar bears in their lifetimes. xoxoxo
We're delighted to know you like Crow's outfit :) Geez, yes, the whole stupid human thing is quite a mess - no wonder Crow's been needing extra shots of brandy these past months. Nevertheless, it was a good thing Shell took their horrible implements of pollution and went home. Absolutely it would be an even better thing if fracking were halted (which could very well happen now the Saudis have flooded the market with oil) and the tar sands too (also in process). We'll keep our fingers crossed.
Deletexoxo
Hi Susan
ReplyDeleteA lovely picture and I particularly like your use of colours.
The continued low oil prices and their relationship to gas prices as well, does make many of these projects unfeasible along with much of the fracking, which is becoming uneconomic in the USA. But I think its good the environmental movement is becoming savvier in appealing to the private sector and individuals in pension schemes on such things, as it doesn’t make any sense to have investments in what are becoming “stranded assets” in dirty energy where there are emerging so many more viable clean alternatives. The 4 big banks here are all curtailing lending to fossil fuel projects.
On the home front Victoria at present is bracing for one of the worst bush fire seasons on record.
We are only just into spring, yet we have many bush fires burning already in state, given the recent hot spell. We have several large bush fires out of control with several hundred fighters unable to save some homes which were destroyed only about an hour’s drive from where we are. We are in for a shocker.
Hi Lindsay,
DeleteI'm glad to know you enjoyed seeing the new painting of Crow.
While last June's encyclical didn't include the word "divestment," Pope Francis' message couldn't have been more clear: unless we can change the underpinnings of our economy, we won't be able to confront the climate crisis that threatens humanity. No matter what happens, it's clear that climate change is having a moral moment. The case for action has never been clearer, and with major mobilizations like last year's People's Climate March, there's hope that the movement for climate justice is finding its stride. Global warming is no longer a scholarly, scientific issue that may affect some polar bears somewhere. It's one of the leading moral causes of our time.
The huge fires in North America this past summer were very frightening. I'm sorry to hear they are affecting you too.
Am I just imagining the polar bear is looking rather suspiciously ar Crow's white fur-trimmed boots?
ReplyDeleteI'd say that's a look of admiration, Andrew, as Crow's fluffy bits were provided by an Angora rabbit who had a good comb out just for him.
DeleteThat is such a relief :)
DeleteGreat news indeed. My spouse has always wanted to go to Churchill and it just might happen for us....:)
ReplyDeleteIt's good news indeed, TB. I hope your plans for a journey to the far north go well.. and during the season of Long Light :)
DeleteAh, yes. Proof indeed that Crow is a cool gent.
ReplyDeleteJ and I made it all the way to Churchill some years ago. No Bears but lots of baby Belugas. And birds.
Blessings and Bear hugs, Susan. Best regards to Crow.
Happy you got to see this one, Rob - we were thinking of you as it developed.
ReplyDeleteThat must have been a very interesting trip for the two of you. It's a bit too far north for me but I can understand your reasoning.
Best wishes from us to you