{"id":789,"date":"2013-10-26T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-26T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/new-zealand\/press-release\/oil-on-the-sea-of-our-souls-the-delusion-of-deep-sea-drilling\/"},"modified":"2024-07-12T15:49:53","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T03:49:53","slug":"oil-on-the-sea-of-our-souls-the-delusion-of-deep-sea-drilling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/oil-on-the-sea-of-our-souls-the-delusion-of-deep-sea-drilling\/","title":{"rendered":"Oil on the Sea of our Souls: The Delusion of Deep-Sea Drilling."},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThere is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action\u201d \u2013 Goethe<\/em><\/p>\n

The charge of ignorance is not one I would level lightly. Ours is a complex world and people act for a variety of reasons; it is at the core of a liberal perspective to respect these \u2013 but even liberal tolerance has its limits. These aren\u2019t arbitrary limits or the decree of some paternalistic dictator \u2013 but the very real limits of biological systems, set by Mother Nature herself.\u00a0It doesn\u2019t matter what the supposed economic benefit are: the ongoing pursuit of deep-sea oil by Messrs Key and co. flies in the face of all available evidence. This isn\u2019t open to interpretation or only the\u00a0domain of a small subset of society, but a key \u2013 the key –\u00a0issue of our day. Climate change is no longer a problem that we can leave to \u201cfuture generations\u201d \u2013 it is happening and it is happening right now. As the most recent report of the UN\u2019s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows, our continuing adherence to fossil fuel extraction now leads us dangerously close to collapse.<\/p>\n

The maths is very simple. Our world is warming and we are playing a significant role. If we are to have a 50% chance of keeping warming within the 2\u00b0C limit set at the latest climate negotiations in Copenhagen then the entire global budget for carbon emissions gives us only 15-25 years to adapt (depending on which estimate you use). Recent evidence \u00a0suggests that the agreed limit of 2\u00b0C may be far too conservative, with many scientists predicting increases in excess of 4\u00b0C if we fail to check our current trajectory.\u00a0We\u2019ve already warmed up 0.8\u00b0C and the impacts have far exceeded those predicted. If the average temperature goes up 4\u00b0C it won\u2019t just mean you can ditch your winter coat. It will mean heat waves, droughts, fires and storms \u2013 with huge loss of life \u2013 and yes John, the economy will take a hit too. This isn\u2019t a political issue, but a human one. Bill McKibbon points out that the amount of carbon in the existing coal, oil and gas reserves of fossil fuel companies is more than five times higher than the allocated budget we need to stay within to stay within the two degree limit. So why are we still searching?<\/p>\n

When a National Government enacted the Resource Management Act in 1991 it was groundbreaking, establishing New Zealand as a world leader for our domestic focus on sustainability and its emphasis on the interrelation between economy and environment. However the years subsequent have seen a blossoming of ignorance in those tasked with governing us, with this key dependency sidelined in the push for economic growth. Our current government only continues this trend, albeit in spectacular fashion \u2013 removing the right to protest oil exploration at sea while claiming it as the solution to our modest economic woes.<\/p>\n

If the above isn\u2019t enough to convince you of the institutionalized lunacy running our country then Greenpeace\u2019s recently launched oil spill model might be just the thing to push you over the edge. Frustrated with the lack of communication from the companies granted exploration permits (Anardarko refused to release their own modeling) Greenpeace took the matter into their own hands, hiring experts and using industry standards to model the likely effects of oil spills from the two exploratory wells going in this summer. That\u2019s right \u2013 going in. This is happening, in our backyard, with the Government\u2019s assent.<\/p>\n

As the models show, even conservative estimate of flow rates and recovery times leave our marine environment decimated. The reach of a potential spill is vast and its downstream effects considerable \u2013 and not just for our marine life.<\/p>\n