People have a tendency to react on an emotional level and ignore what led to this point or lack the information to make an informed opinion that is not based on emotion.
Just because we don't like the reality, doesn't mean that a particular reality doesn't exist.
I've been asked several times to post about this. I chose not to because I do not want to be dragged into political conversations. One of the reasons that I started to blog again was to find some refuge in art music books and creativity.
I'm providing a little information as objectively as possible on a superficial level. It has nothing to do with my personal opinion.
This is turning into an oil/gas war, which has always been a possibility but which we mostly averted through diplomacy and negotiations. (By we and us I mean the western world UK, EU. US etc). There are very powerful organizations that were aware decades ago that climate change was coming and saw the financial potential. These families and organizations are frequently generational and have long term strategies that included recruiting scientists in the 70s.
In the 90s Hapag Lloyd started to build triple hulled tankers, ice breakers and supercontainershipping ships in anticipation of the new arctic ocean. Long story short, they are no longer doing that. The Chinese and Russians are building them. There are some collaborations between the US, Canada and Finland as well.
The majority of the world's polluters are big industrial factories, many of which turn raw materials into eg. Metals like steel that we all need and use. Most of them use oil to run their factories and would or will need years to switch to an alternative.
The Saudis have access not only to the highest quality crude oil but also the infrastructure to extract and refine it into a finished product. Extraction is mostly offshore, easier and higher quality than drilling into land. Many other countries have oil, but it's landlocked and contains such impurities that it can't be used for fuel. Countries in North Africa have a lot of land based oil, but lack the infrastructure to extract it and/or have governments too corrupt to trade with. Other countries appear to have oil offshore but drilling reveals flat oil pockets.
Kuwait is similar but to a lesser degree. Both countries have experienced some of the highest temperatures on the planet; over 50 °Celsius up from 40°Celsius in just a decade. Without air conditioning which almost all households have anything higher will be impossible to survive.
They need wealth and energy for that. The irony is that the world will need more energy to survive climate change.
This is the northwest passage, which only Canada has sovereignty over. Russia is trying to extend its territorial waters and economic zones.
Greenland (population 56000) recently rejected the contract with Australian mining company ETM, which opens it up to other offers. Part of the problem with mining there is that once the ice recedes there is no guarantee that there are as many resources as guesstimated.
The race for arctic resources is on. The oil there is already thought to be the impure kind. The US has the refineries.
One of the reasons that the UK brexited in 2016 is that it didn't want to be dragged into a war and failing that wanted to be able to make it's own decisions.
Alternatives
The patent for Hydrogen technology is held by BMW. Dirty to produce and will likely go nowhere.
Science was working on reducing the half life of radioactive materials. Nuclear power plants are the most energy efficient and after the Fukushima disaster countries like Japan are reinforcing and modernizing the reactors. Many of which were based on 1950s technology.
Building a combustion engine that is less polluting is another option.
Wind and Solar main problem is lack of storage. Even if batteries eventually can, the materials in them are also very toxic.
Until we have a great alternative we can transition into, using all of them in equal measure reduces the impact individually.
Im not discussing the environmental impact in the post, but feel free to.
There is a good video explaining the refineries. As soon as I find it I'll post it here.
As always please refrain from mentioning politicians, especially since this 'started' decades ago.
Please let me know if this is helpful.
This is very helpful. Thank you for writing this.
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