A Song of Oil, Ice and Fire

Would we set fire to works of art, destroy manuscripts, smash ancient ruins with a sledgehammer?

When Isis and the Taliban destroyed symbols of our culture, we were shocked, more shocked even than by the gruesome brutality of their beheadings.

If we are shocked, then why are we tolerating Shell setting fire to the planet?

We have seen the last week extreme temperature in India, with many thousands dying. That is of nothing with what we will experience with thermal runaway if global temperature rise goes beyond 2C. Even with 2C, we are going to see more violent and extreme weather events.

If we are to keep global temperature rises below 2C, we have to keep 80% of known carbon reserves in the ground.

The worth of a company such as Shell, is the value of its known carbon reserves. If it cannot recover, then Shell is worthless.

More extreme and hazardous carbon deposits, mountain top removal, tar sands, fracking, deep water, Amazon, Arctic, are more expensive than renewables (and the cost of renewables is falling).

An oil spill in the Arctic is unlikely to be recoverable.

Shell has already had one major incident on the Arctic.

Why are we permitting Shell to drill in the Arctic?

• A Fossil Fuel Free World is Possible
• In the Face of Shell’s Arctic Drilling Plans, Seattle Activists Speak Out
• Fossil industry faces a perfect political and technological storm
• Fossil fuel divestment is rational, says former Shell chairman
• India heatwave hits poorest hardest
• How renewable energy in South Africa is quietly stealing a march on coal

US rig counts have fallen for 24 straight weeks as drillers shelve new projects amid slide in prices http://t.co/SNg4NFZeAg #shale #fracking

— Tom Burke (@tom_burke_47) June 6, 2015

On #WorldEnvironmentDay, we investigate the coal boom that is choking China http://t.co/6fsh3QOCYR #keepitintheground pic.twitter.com/rZ3jbUphPe

— Guardian Environment (@guardianeco) June 5, 2015

Greenpeace occupy Shell Arctic drilling rig

The easy oil and gas is known and claimed.

Any future exploration is dangerous and hazardous: Arctic, Deep Sea, Amazon, tar sands, fracking.

An oil spill in the Arctic would be nigh impossible to clean up.

We know that to stop thermal runaway, 80% of known carbon deposits must be left in the ground.

The value of fossil fuel companies like Shell, is the value of their known reserves. If these reserves cannot be recovered, then the value of companies like Shell become worthless overnight.

There is a worldwide movement to divest from oil and coal, on ethical, environmental and economic grounds.

If we cannot recover known reserves, why is Shell exploring for more oil?

• Shell sues to boot Greenpeace activists who climbed aboard oil rig bound for the Arctic to protest drilling

The end of the British Antarctic Survey?

Shrinking ice in the Antarctic means scientific research more vital than ever

Since coming to power the ConDem government has declared war on the poor, the disadvantaged, the arts, science, welfare budgets have been cut, the Tories are now bragging they intend to cut a further £10 billion from welfare budgets, libraries closed, a failed attempt was made to sell off our historic forests for commercial exploitation. Now they are wishing to destroy the British Antarctic Survey.

Everyone has heard of Scott of the Antarctic, the ill-fated attempt by Captain Scott to reach the South Pole and how he and his team died in the attempt. But even if they had succeeded they would have found they were beaten by a Norwegian team.

A legacy of Scott is the British Antarctic Survey. It was the British Antarctic Survey that discovered the hole in the ozone layer.

At a time of global warming, with warming taking place much faster at the Polar Regions, we need the British Antarctic Survey more than ever before, were the west Antarctic ice sheet to collapse sea levels would rise by 3 metres wiping out many coastal cities including London, and yet the ConDem government wish to abolish the British Antarctic Survey based in Cambridge. They wish to merge it with National Oceanography Centre based in Southampton and Liverpool.

To put a 3m rise in sea level in context, the Thames Barrier was built to cope with a 16cm rise in sea level over the next 20 years. 

This summer has seen more melting of the Arctic ice beating previous records. The ice is melting far faster than previously forecast leading to the very real possibility of the Arctic free of ice during the summer within the next ten years.

The British Antarctic Survey carries out research and collects data on climate change, ice dynamics, ecosystems and fisheries, work that is vital to understanding climate change.

Next month a 12-strong team will use a custom-built hot-water drill to penetrate a three-kilometre layer of ice to reach the waters of the subglacial Lake Ellsworth on the west Antarctic ice sheet. Sixteen years to plan, this investigation will open new research into the Earth’s past climate and possibly could find new life forms or if not, the limit at which life can exist.

The Cambridge headquarters will be closed, the name lost (losing the link with Scott). This will pave the way for later sell-off of ships, aircraft, the closure of bases, redundancies, lose of expertise.

Already senior personel have left seeing no future for the British Antarctic Survey.

Only the ConDem government could be this foolish, this shortsighted.

Please sign the petition opposing abolition of the British Antarctic Survey. Please pass to all your friends and colleagues and ask them to sign.

• ‘Axing the British Antarctic Survey would mean the end of Scott’s legacy’
• The end of the British Antarctic Survey?

Cairn Energy gags Greenpeace

Cairn Energy's Stena Don oil rig

Greenpeace has been campaigning to stop drilling for oil in the Arctic by Cairn Energy.

To cover up the truth about its Arctic drilling, Cairn Energy has obtained an extraordinary, wide-ranging legal interdict (injunction) against Greenpeace, gagging them from posting Tweets and Facebook updates including even pictures of their actions.

But as Cairn are learning, you cannot gag users on the net.

– BREAKING: Cairn obtains legal interdict: ‘Twitter ban’ and ‘gagging order’ for Greenpeace
– Greenpeace Twitter injunction backfires for Cairn Energy