[Ecodharma] Huge Oil Drilling Project in North Alaska Gets the Green Light [article]

[Kokuu]

Dear all

After the hope of the High Seas Treaty, a reminder that Business as Usual continues, with the American government approving the Willow project, allowing drilling in the wilderness of north Alaska. This directly goes against both the campaign pledges of the Biden administration and the scientific advice of moving away from our reliance on fossil fuels.

"The Willow project is an act of terrorism against the climate, and the Biden administration has just approved it. This massive oil-drilling project in the wilderness of northern Alaska goes against science and the administration’s many assurances that it cares about climate and agrees that we must make a swift transition away from fossil fuel.

Biden was elected in no small part by the participation of young voters who supported his strong climate platform. As a candidate he promised: 'And by the way, no more drilling on federal lands, period. Period, period, period.'

Earlier, the New York Times reported, “The administration says the country must pivot away from fossil fuels but backed a project set to produce more than 100,000 barrels of oil each day for 30 years.” In thirty years it will be 2053, three years after we are supposed to have achieved a fully fossil-free future."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/14/biden-willow-project-betrayal-campaign-vows-climate-crisis

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-

[Naiko]

I’ve been seething since I saw this news. A great step backwards.
Naiko
sat with disgust today

[Kokuu]

A great step backwards

It does totally feel like that. This is exactly the kind of project that needed to be stopped if we were to take carbon emission targets seriously.

Gassho
Kokuu

[aprapti]

[emoji1374] aprapti


sat

[Tokan]

Hey all

Curiously named, 'Willow', is that for a person or are they trying to make it sound nice with a lovely tree name?

Also, you guys are the eco-Dharma warriors, so can anyone enlighten me as to whether the shift towards electric cars is actually going to be worse in the long-run, but maybe for different reasons. I was initially hopeful that this was a great leap forward, away from the combustion engine, but the materials required for electric cars seem to require mining on an unprecedented scale, and what do we do with all the dead batteries?

Still seems to me that push-bikes and public transport, along with working from home, is more the answer than just different fuel systems because, at the end of the day, 8 billion people are going to want it, and 8 billion of anything seems like too much!

Gassho, Tokan

satlah

[Kokuu]

Still seems to me that push-bikes and public transport, along with working from home, is more the answer than just different fuel systems because, at the end of the day, 8 billion people are going to want it, and 8 billion of anything seems like too much!

It is a very good point, Tokan. I am not an expert but do know that electric cars are considered significantly better than gasoline/petrol engines but better does not equal good, for many of the reasons you point out.

In the medium to long term we want to be improving public transport networks and encouraging working from home and living within walking/cycling/short bus trip distance from your workplace.

Electric and hybrid cars are generally considered part of the solution, though, as the human need to get from one place to another is not going away.

https://www.permaculture.org.uk/practical-solutions/transport-technologies

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-

[Tokan]

Hi Kokuu

Yes the power of mobility brought us wonderful opportunities, for work, the choice to take our kids to a school of our choosing, for study, to get to Zen centres far away! The down side has been the consumption side of things. I had this weird idea once of a public transport city, mainly for large cities, that was based on concentric circles. The main idea was that you could get to any point on any circle, giving you easy access to the whole city. A bit like the London tube system, but not requiring you to learn the map by heart. I imagine they could pull it off in the UAE.

Gassho, Tokan

satlah

[Kokuu]

I had this weird idea once of a public transport city, mainly for large cities, that was based on concentric circles. The main idea was that you could get to any point on any circle, giving you easy access to the whole city. A bit like the London tube system, but not requiring you to learn the map by heart. I imagine they could pull it off in the UAE.

There is a city in Saudi Arabia that is being built entirely in a straight line, but concentric circles make much more sense as regards energy efficiency:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Line,_Saudi_Arabia

This is the kind of idea that needs considering when building future cities in order to allow freedom of movement with the minimum consumption of energy. I often wonder what towns and cities would look like if they were built in order to conserve energy.

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-

[Naiko]

Hi all,
This blog post has a bit of background history on this project. I thought it was interesting. There’s still a chance it may be stopped in court.

https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/biden-approved-new-drilling-in-the?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Gassho,
Naiko
st lah

[Zenkon]

I'm going to play Devil's advocate here:

1. The approved Willow project is significantly smaller and less invasive than a much larger project that had been previously fully approved. To withhold approval of the smaller Willow project would have simply insured unwinnable litigation.
2. The project goes a long way towards maintaining America's energy independence. Sure, other oil sources are available from places like Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela, but these entail unacceptable bargaining.
3. This project is overwhelmingly wanted by the citizens of Alaska.
4. I'm all in favor of electric cars, etc. but reality is gas cars will be with us for a long time

Environmental concerns are important, but we cannot ignore legal, economic, and local and geo-political issues'

Zenkon

[Tokan]

I'm going to play Devil's advocate here:

1. The approved Willow project is significantly smaller and less invasive than a much larger project that had been previously fully approved. To withhold approval of the smaller Willow project would have simply insured unwinnable litigation.
2. The project goes a long way towards maintaining America's energy independence. Sure, other oil sources are available from places like Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela, but these entail unacceptable bargaining.
3. This project is overwhelmingly wanted by the citizens of Alaska.
4. I'm all in favor of electric cars, etc. but reality is gas cars will be with us for a long time

Environmental concerns are important, but we cannot ignore legal, economic, and local and geo-political issues'

Zenkon

This is true,

There are many forces at play in our world, and many forces that could destroy us, or undermine the efforts to slow climate change. With politics so polarising in recent years, it is hard to find the middle way it seems!

Gassho, Tokan

satlah