Hey Folks,

Here’s a follow up to my recent post on proposals to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Whilst that post concentrated on facts and figures and data and so forth, I think greater arguments ought be made. As you can see from a cursory read of that post, it’s too easy for folks to cut up a pie in any way they choose in order that it might yield the slices that best fit their appetite. I suppose part of the reason for this is that the pie itself is, ultimately, generated by our cultural institutions, our way of living, our way of seeing the world.

The potential number of barrels of oil the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge may yield is somewhat of an abstraction – what constitutes a “barrel”, for example? How large is the footprint of a drilling rig? How many caribou will that impact?

Any measurements we choose to use are simply yardsticks of our own worldview (I guarantee you, for example, that the Porcupine Caribou Herd would, if asked, probably give a very different answer to even our cleverest scientists). What if we don’t look upon the world with that viewpoint, however? How else might we be able to see the world, and in what ways might we possibly benefit from a different angle?

Hey Folks,

A recent thread on global warming and other environmental issues posed the question: “Are we having fun yet?” What a fantastic question to ask of ourselves in the year 2008. This question hit me square between the eyes; that’s really the issue here, isn’t it, I thought. That’s exactly what’s going on. Recent years have given more people more access to more goods and services, more art, more sport, more information, even to more other people, than ever before. With the internet we have access to the entire world at our fingertips. I can learn about almost anything in a matter of minutes. I can order plated Patagonian Alpaca Wool rugs in a few seconds, with the click of a mouse. I can order Goat’s Milk chocolate from Israel in the time it takes me to write this sentence. Figuratively, we have everything, literally we have more than anyone has ever had before. We live, in every sense of the word, in a time of abundance. And yet we seem bent on ‘more’. Why aren’t we happy yet, I wondered. (note: before you read on, this gets kinda long)

Hey Folks,

I was going to write tonight about another company that I’ve had great dealings with, and do a little plug for them, but I’ve changed my mind. The news has been all about the Exxon Valdez case, so maybe I’ll make a few notes here about this subject. For those of you who haven’t been following it (and I haven’t followed this latest round too closely), the US Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments from Exxon and the plaintiffs, folks from the the Prince William Sound, Alaska area, specifically concerning punitive damages. I’m no lawyer, so my comments are worth the price you’re paying to read them – but I’ll share them here regardless. 🙂

In late March 1989 the Exxon Valdez oil tanker dumped nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound. These estimates come largely from simple math – 53 million (the number of gallons originally onboard), minus what was later reclaimed from the vessel equalled 10.8 million gallons missing, i.e., spilled. Many watch groups argue these estimates, though widely accepted, are underreported, because much of the oil recovered from the ship was diluted with sea water. The accident occurred, investigations found, primarily because the ship’s captain was drunk and sleeping at the time.