Sunday 4 September 2011

If you love the Earth . . .

. . .  please sign this.


Here's why.

23 comments:

Roberta Desalle said...

Ember, Thank you so much for including the video with the petition. I had read articles about the Pipeline, and signed other petitions to President Obama, but the powerful, yet low-key presentation of the video encouraged me to e-mail it to several friends for their signatures. Pax+
Roberta Desalle

seekingmyLord said...

Ember, I am against for many reasons but the three main ones are current U.S. anti-oil politics, the unnecessary destruction of natural habitat, and the method itself is inefficient and costly.

What I protest in my homeland is that our president seems to support the oil industry, as long as it comes from outside of the U.S., while restricting U.S. based companies from drilling and refining oil. This creates the demand and market opportunity for this form of oil extraction and the pipe lines into the U.S. Is it acceptable for oil to come from countries with less regulation and willingness to damage their environments without the U.S. having any responsibility...we did not do it, we just bought the oil? (Rolling my eyes here.)

Now, I believe that God was very wise in how He created the world and recent studies suggest that the earth continuously makes oil. (God also provided oil-eating microbes in the oceans, which cleaned up the majority of the Gulf Oil Spill, although this was not really mentioned in the mainstream news.) If so, oil is a renewal resource and I agree that this particular method of extraction is not worth the effort, cost, or damage.

However, I am not anti-oil either. I believe that we can be good stewarts of this resorurce, not that there will never be accidents because we are after all human, but that we can be better prepared for them and trust the Lord that He made his creation self-sustaining, foreknowing we would make mistakes.

Pen Wilcock said...

Hi Roberta, Hi seekingmyLord :0)

Re the earth being self sustaining, and self-cleansing as per the microbes you mention, and planned by God to be so, yes that's true, BUT...
God also made the human body too be self-healing, self-cleansing and self-sustaining. Nonetheless if a human being imposes enough stress in poor diet, inappropriate lifestyle, substance abuse and bad management, the body is overwhelmed and dies. And God lets that happen. The churchyard is full of people who had the option to live longer and healthier lives. In increasingly violent weather patterns we're already seeing what climate change can do. There is nothing in the Bible, past experience, or reasoned thinking to lead us to suppose that we can abuse the ecological environment mercilessly, cutting down the forests and filling the air/sea/rivers/land with poison and somehow it will just be OK.

seekingmyLord said...

Ember, if you have read my blog you know that I am a strong advocate for eating organic and healthy foods and that I am a published writer of health-related articles. Your graveyard analogy is interesting and I would propose that it is also full of people's remains who did take care of themselves, Christians and atheists alike, as I am far more concerned over the state of one's soul than the body. The fact is that we are all going to die sometime of something and that is not of our own choosing. I know a few people who drank, smoked, and lived it up who did not die until well into their nineties and other who did all the "healthy stuff" and died in their forties. God allows these things also.

I am not inclined to believe that weather patterns have "changed" anymore in recent history as they have in the history before this era. Just one volcano eruption does more to our atmosphere than we do. I am not saying that we should be reckless and permissive of recklessness. I just believe there needs to be a balance. Mankind is not the virus of the earth. I believe God's plan was that the earth made for us, not we for it.

I also believe the destruction of this earth or at least this existence of it is prophesied. God sent a flood once and promised never to do it again, but He also forewarned us it will be destroyed and next time will not be by flood.

I am concerned because this video only gives one side of the equation. These companies are planting trees and marshes are flourishing in reclaimed oil sand mining areas, but I do not see that mentioned.

"By law, after the oil is extracted, each section of a mining company’s lease must be returned to a state equivalent to what it was in before a tree was cut or the first shovel hit the dirt. It does not have to be identical, but ­­it does have to represent the boreal ecosystem. The mining companies are required to make the mines and everything associated with them disappear, so that you’d never know a mine was there. The goal is to achieve, as much as is possible, the same natural ecosystem that existed before anyone ever uttered the phrase “oil sands." Reference: http://www.earthmagazine.org/earth/article/30d-7da-2-16

Pen Wilcock said...

Thanks, seekingmyLord - helpful ad thoughtful as always x

Pen Wilcock said...

Oh - I guess I should add - I'm not in agreement with the belief that God made the earth for us human beings. That isn't what I read in the Bible. I read that we are given responsibility with regard to the earth, but God originally made it just out of the creativity of God's own Spirit.
I see our stewardship of it as a trust to Him, and also a reverence for something so beautiful, so wonderful and intricate.

seekingmyLord said...

Ember, you are always so gracious. I understand what you are expressing and actually should say that I believe we have a symbiotic relationship with the earth. God made us for it and it for us. We really cannot live on another planet without causing extreme DNA alterations, but that is for another discussion.

The concern I have is that most of the people, who are protesting against this, are the same people who protest against ANY and EVERY oil industry while they used oil to get to the place of the protest. If you are to ask them, you realize that they believe their use of oil has a higher purpose and they use it more wisely than the rest of us, so the rest of us just really do not need so much.

Such anti-oil outcries have caused the oil industry shut down in our country (with loss of jobs) and the necessity to buy more oil at higher cost from any source outside of our country (even to supporting unfriendly dictatorships). The people who are protesting this can only hope to make the U.S. shift to another source, the cheapest found, which could have less regulation than Canada does. This movement will not end because they are against anything to do with oil *within* the U.S.

Ember, from your caring and careful perspective of the earth, I can see why the tar sand industry would be one of your critical concerns, however the mindset behind the protests in my country might be very different than your thinking. I have often noticed that the same people that are against cutting trees will have large libraries of books and think themselves worthy of them, being that they are usually well-educated, but they want all companies to stop cutting down trees without a thought from what the next books needing pages will come or worse--often it is worse--that they are the good stewards and the rest of us, not in the "club" (like-minded), are not deserving of such privileges as printed books (unless they are influential in promoting the right causes).

I know that sounds laughable in a way but as I stated before, I am more concerned about the state of the emotional and spiritual hearts of people than this one particular cause. What most do not see is the political undercurrent with many movements like this that has an elitist flavor, which I find distasteful and rather quite alarming because it has proven to be historically disastrous.

Now, if these same people would protest against Canada's tar sand in favor of drilling and refining our own oil, cleaner and safer because we have such high regulation, while we continue to develop more efficient machines, then this movement would have my complete support, but I am cetain the majority of these people would never go for that.

paula said...

Friend speaks my mind.

Pen Wilcock said...

Oh, helpful and wise thoughts, seekingmyLord! Thank you so much! x

Pen Wilcock said...

Hi Paula! :0)

Mrs.T said...

This protest is not just about pipeline SeekingmyLord..
Its also about the treatment of the Native Americans.. the health of those around the tar sands.. cancer abound..
And the fact that our Gov't is not working for its people but for the Corporation ..

Your right we're "running out" of oil..
but its getting to the point getting the crude out is becoming dirtier and cost sky rocket to dig deeper to get enough to sustain our life style here in the West..
Its called Peak Oil.. I urge you do a search on the subject..

With India and China middle class growing we are going to have to share what there is .. its just not sustainable to keep using it

It all starts with us.. humans.. we over consume .. until its either gone or not worth it .. Its a sad fact about our nature.. :(

Ember thank you for posting this on you blog.. it is a very important issue out there

Denise in TN

Pen Wilcock said...

Thank you, Denise x

Mrs.T said...

I'm meant to say " Your right we're NOT "running out" of oil"..

Sorry for any confusion !!!

Denise

BLD in MT said...

Thank you for sharing. What an outrage...

Pen Wilcock said...

Hi Beth! x

Stealth Jew said...

No. I support oil exploration in Alberta, which has been fabulous for the land.

We have a lot of land in Canada, the vast majority of it far from arable. Oil exploration in Alberta has not been a disaster for the environment (Canada has some of the best-preserved land and tightest environmental policies in the world) but has been a tremendous boon for the province and the economy.

Alberta is a very healthy province, as well as a beautiful one. That said, relatively few people live up in the tar sands, because it's _not arable_. It's also bloody cold.

Canada is one of the most environmentally sensitive country in the world.

Pen Wilcock said...

:0) Thanks, friend! It's always illuminating to see thins from a different perspective! x

paula said...

Dear Pen,

I'm coming back at this. Perhaps in Canada the citizens have a chance to drill in ways that don't harm the earth or the atmosphere. But I am leery of it anyway. Oftentimes people and animal habitat are harmed, simply because the people being affected have little voice and little income. I am bringing to you a message from Appalachia, in Ohio:

"...Now we are facing the threat of fracking in Athens County. Fracking is disastrous and puts the land and water greatly at risk. Organic farming will be a thing of the past if fracking becomes widespread. I belong to
a citizen's group that is very very concerned. 30 land owners in Athens County have already signed, and it is one of the most progressive and conservation-minded of the counties in our region. All of Southeast Ohio
is getting hit very hard by the oil landsmen who are getting
hard-pressed citizens to sign leases.

"I urge anyone, anywhere in Ohio, to get educated about this issue, and stand in solidarity with the communities that are being threatened by this, because it will affect the recreational lands you love, the watersheds and the lakes, including Lake Erie, where you play and which supply Ohio's drinking water, and the health of the forests which provide a buffer from the effects of climate change."

I'm back. I received this message because I belong to a local organization that focuses on sustainability of all kinds. My project is forest restoration; others work for energy efficiency, local foods, "pre-cycling" etc. We are a wealthy community by most standards; corporations couldn't come in here to do drilling.

Appalachia is dirt-poor, however, and oil corporations can get away with more in poor areas. Oil exploration is not just a matter of concern for the environment but also a human rights concern.

Incidentally, my earlier post - "Friend speaks my mind" - referred to your post, not to the response posted directly above mine.

Yours faithfully, Paula

Pen Wilcock said...

Thanks, Paula x

Mrs.T said...

Paula,

Thank you a 100 xs' over..

Roberta Desalle said...

Ember, I thought you might be interested in an e-mail I received today from the National Resources Defense Council, in the U.S.

"Last week, nine Nobel Peace Laureates -- including the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu -- sent President Obama a letter, urging him to “do the right thing” and reject the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline."

The e-mail stated the NRDC plans to run a full page ad in the NY Times with the letter from the Laureates.
Anyone can read the full text of the letter at the NRDC website.
Pax+
Roberta

Pen Wilcock said...

:0)

Pen Wilcock said...

Roberta - Wow!