Global warming and capitalists

Obdurate · #1 03-15-08, 11:32 PM

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/articl...80315093422460

Quote:

Global Warming and Capitalism: As the Ice Melts, the Land Rush Begins

By Devin Stronge
Nor'Easter #1
The Northwest Passage is one of the most fabled sea routes in the world, located above the northern Canadian province of Nunavut among the frozen arctic islands that dot the North Pole. The Passage provides a sea route from Europe to Asia, but had never been used extensively because of the Arctic islands that choked the sea route and barred any large shipping means of access through the Passage. All this, however, is about to change. Satellite images from the European Space Agency (ESA), taken in September of last year, show that the ice covering the Passage has shrunk to a size small enough to allow navigation. The ESA reported that this is the first time that the Passage will be navigational since the agency began monitoring it in 1978.
The ice has been shrinking steadily for the ten years, but last sum- mer's reduction has been the largest and most rapid. Leif Toudal Pedersen of the Danish National Space Centre called last year's reduction "extreme," stating that typically the ice had been melting at about 38,600 square miles per year, but last year saw a shrinking of around 386,000 square miles--one- hundred times the "typical" rate.
This environmental disaster has created an exciting opportunity for capitalists. In 1997, Pat Broe, a Denver entrepreneur, bought derelict ports in Hudson Bay from the Canadian Gov- ernment. Broe was hoping that the ice would eventually melt to a navigational level and thus make his initial invest- ment of seven dollars a very profitable venture. Large and small corporations alike are mimicking Broe's logic and this year will see a corporate rush for virgin territory.
The capitalist invasion of Man- itoba and Nunavut has other conse- quences, as well. Nunavut is a province populated by mostly indigenous people whose way of life, which is already threatened by the disappearing ice, will be changed drastically by the corpo- rate onslaught. Sheila Watt-Cloutier, a leader of a transnational Inuit group explained: "As long as it's ice, nobody cares but us because we hunt and fish and travel on that ice. However, the minute it starts to thaw and becomes water, then the whole world is inter- ested."
And the whole world is inter- ested and not just in the Northwest Pas- sage, but in all of the Arctic and North Pole. A United Nations treaty called the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas allows countries to make claims to ter- ritory according to how far their conti- nental shelf extends into the sea. Using this treaty, nations have begun to stake claims in the Arctic including Russia, Norway, the United States and Canada. The prospect of undersea oil among the melted ice has made the North Pole prime real estate. Russia has claimed almost half of the Arctic Ocean. If oil is found, Russia could come to challenge the power of OPEC. Canada has already commissioned ten nuclear submarines to patrol the Northwest Passage and the Arctic. Eventually, all of the Arctic ice will melt and create a sea that will be larger than the Mediterranean, which could very well be a future cause for conflict among nations over the sea routes and the natural resources.
This environmental disaster is of little concern to capitalists and na- tions currently vying for influence in the region. Profits and realist policies have taken precedence over the pres- ervation of our planet. Not only have the environmental consequences of the opening of the Northwest Passage been largely ignored, but the impact of in- dustrial and corporate development on the virgin land of northern Canada has been of little interest to the capitalist in- vaders.
According to transportation minister of Manitoba Ron Lemieux, "[This is] the positive side of global warming--if there is a positive side."
-Warming Opens up Northwest Pas- sage, BBC News, September 14, 2007, news.bbc.co.uk, © 2008
-As Polar Ice Turns to Water, Dreams of Treasure Abound, Clifford Krauss, Steven Lee Myers, Andrew C. Revkin, Simon Romero, The New York Times, October 10, 2005, The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia,
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* The Official Quarterly of the northeast anarchist network

Yeah guys. Screwin`over the Inuits doesn`t matter, go global warming!

jol · #2 03-16-08, 03:10 PM

Haha, that guy isn't very good at math. 386,000 / 38,600 = 10, not 100

There is global warming on Mars too, looks like the Martians need to cut down on their greenhouse gas.

But, you know, forget science, the unproven theories seem more popular these days...

Some Links for you to look at:
Newsmax.com - New Study Explodes Human-Global Warming Story
Letter to naturalSCIENCE: Global Warming is Not Happening
Human Caused Global Warming: Real or Imagined?

Obdurate · #3 03-16-08, 03:31 PM

So you post a few links that are about global warming (and scientists have been arguing about this for a long time and will continue to do so) but then you miss the entire point of people trying to claim land. Okaaaay then Mr. Iraq-Wasn't-For-Oil.

Unproven theories, haha.

jol · #4 03-16-08, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Obdurate

So you post a few links that are about global warming (and scientists have been arguing about this for a long time and will continue to do so) but then you miss the entire point of people trying to claim land. Okaaaay then Mr. Iraq-Wasn't-For-Oil.

Unproven theories, haha.

I misread and thought it was more about about people capitalizing on new sea trade routes that are now available because the ice that was previously there was melted. I still don't understand why capitalists should care? If the ice is melting anyway, it isn't like their mining of the oil is going to melt it less. It's the ice's fault, not ours.

And yes, it is an unproven theory, hence the "theory" part.

And if Iraq was for oil, why are prices so high (after 5 trillion in debt)?

Hatchet · #5 03-16-08, 09:05 PM

lol you think the oil prices would drop? how much oil does the military use every day in Iraq?

the capitalists care that the ice is melting because now they can build there and they can mine there and they can look for precious oil there, all the while displacing (without caring) the indigenous people. ya know...like capitalists always do. that damn ice was in the way, it sure as hell should be blamed!

jol · #6 03-17-08, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatchet

lol you think the oil prices would drop? how much oil does the military use every day in Iraq?

I'm sure that Alaska would be much cheaper, and less awful on the Republican reputation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatchet

the capitalists care that the ice is melting because now they can build there and they can mine there and they can look for precious oil there, all the while displacing (without caring) the indigenous people. ya know...like capitalists always do. that damn ice was in the way, it sure as hell should be blamed!

Change is always uncomfortable, not necessarily bad. You can look at it as if they are being attacked, or you can look at it in the sense that if entrepreneurs stopped so that they lifestyle wouldn't be changed, they would be costing us trillions of dollars in oil. One just sounds worse than the other. There is really no legal way nowadays to be independent, despite how sad that may sound.

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