Oil leak sealed!!

[Lizzie]

Shell oil has finally closed the valve that allowed oil to seep from a pipeline off the coast of Scotland. It is suspected the amount leaked could be four times what they admitted poured into the North Sea. Such corporate ethics! But, they do admit there could be more leaks, probably so, with the deteriorated condition of platforms dating back to the '70's. Does Scotland really want to inherit what could be a mess? Of course to drill and burn a finite supply used in so many products is sheer madness! There goes the human race. I'm up a little too early at 4.30 and my cheery nature has not had time to surface. Excuse the sarcasm.

[Ranald]

"Shell oil has finally closed the valve" ---- so they say ----- but then ---- they were not truthful about the amount already leaked ??

What with the explosion in the numbers of cars in India and China, I think that the writing is, and SHOULD BE, on the wall for the future o oil/petrol.

Ranald

[Lizzie]

Aye, Ranald, before we splutter our way into eternity. One would think the oil corporations would see the light and begin to diversify. Looks like they intend to hang on like 'grim death' at the poles.

[Lizzie]

Interesting piece I found in a blog. Frightening if you consider the consequences of the amount of the black gold involved. Already, it seems to be an ecological disaster in Alberta.

Bill McKibben laid out the issue today in a Washington Post op-ed:

Already, more than a thousand people have signed up to be arrested over two weeks beginning Aug. 20 — the biggest display of civil disobedience in the environmental movement in decades and one of the largest nonviolent direct actions since the World Trade Organization demonstrations in Seattle back before Sept. 11. (Among the first 500 to sign up, the biggest cohort was born in the Truman administration, followed closely by FDR babies and Eisenhower kids. These seniors contradict the stereotype of greedy geezers who care only about their own future.)

The issue is simple: We want the president to block construction of Keystone XL, a pipeline that would carry oil from the tar sands of northern Alberta down to the Gulf of Mexico. We have, not surprisingly, concerns about potential spills and environmental degradation from construction of the pipeline. But those tar sands are also the second-largest pool of carbon in the atmosphere, behind only the oil fields of Saudi Arabia. If we tap into them in a big way, NASA climatologist James Hansen explained in a paper issued this summer, the emissions would mean it’s “essentially game over” for the climate. That’s why the executive directors of many environmental groups and 20 of the country’s leading climate scientists wrote letters asking people to head to Washington for the demonstrations. In scientific terms, it’s as close to a no-brainer as you can get.

[Lizzie]

Here's another wee snippet I caught recently, somewhat in keeping with the topic. Might be of great interest to SciFi Al. Certain scientists have a concluded that aliens making contact with earth might well exterminate the human race to save other alien races from their destructive nature.

[Lizzie]

Okay, I was having a bit of fun with tongue in cheek with the above. But one TV station took a poll on the issue:

Most responded the scientists find a new line of work! However, 3% wanted to tackle climate change while six times that, 19%, suggested developing weapons to fight the aliens. Oh dear! Och weil, stupid votes as stupid thinks!