by Reid Westland Coal in all its forms, natural gas and oil are non-renewable resources that, after at least a hundred million years of sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in these forms, are being consumed (burned) at a rate that will see their near exhaustion in less than 250 years. Best estimates and ever increasing rates of consumption give us very little time to come up with alternatives—and the time frame is rapidly shrinking.
Hidden in this profligate consumption lies an issue that may well overtake issues of scarcity and depletion: the impact of these resources on human and planet health as it is consumed may be catastrophic. The Vostok ice core that was brought up from Antarctica points to a spike in the concentrations of CO2 that hasn’t been seen, at least from the ice cores, in 900,000 years. The start of this modern spike begins dramatically with the onset of hydrocarbon consumption by man. The demand for fuels, plastics and pharmaceuticals appears to be insatiable and has potentially dire consequences for us and for the planet. Governments and businesses are much like pushers who sell a product that they have in surplus to the needy with the seeds of destruction “hidden” within. We are addicts and pushers all at the same time, and we are both culpable.
When looking deep into geological time and fossil atmospheres, we can evaluate some of the ancient consequences and they would be pretty grim for us today. Sea level rise and desertification are well understood as more and more CO2 is pumped into the atmosphere. CO2 increases simply mean more energy capture and, as a consequence, more energetic weather events and an overall shift in an upward tic in world temperatures. We may have already surpassed the minimum of a two-degree Celsius threshold, that the some-950-odd atmospheric and climate scientists, who signed on to recognizing climate change, agreed might be a key temperature marker for a climate shift.
What government and or business community would want to do “business as usual” if it could grasp that the consequences would be potentially catastrophic to its long-term viability? Time frames are shrinking and concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere are rising unabated. Will it be when sea levels rise five centimetres a year, or something worse? Every few months, predictions indicate that climate change is accelerating. Yet, we sell environmentally dirty bitumen, frack many geological structures (with unknown consequences for potable water), and go ever deeper and farther afield for fewer and fewer oil deposits that may be recoverable.
The time frame is shrinking for a world that is evolving into weather and climate patterns that may be unsustainable. Yet, governments and businesses seem to take very little initiative here in North America. They sit like frogs in that pot of water on the stove barely acknowledging the slow but deadly rising temperature. They could jump out, but they are just making too much money and having too much fun to see the looming peril. Perhaps we all are.
Reid Westland was, during his working career, an educator, field researcher in amphibian endocrinology and lastly a youth worker. He has spent a large part of his life in the outdoors and has watched with some dismay the impact humans have had on diverse ecosystems.
