Canadian government-approved drilling permits already cover 30,000 square miles of forest and wetland, said Grant, and could ultimately span 50,000 square miles -- an area larger than Ohio.
Image: Pembina Institute/Flickr
Backlink: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/wp-content/gallery/oilsands/drilling_extent.jpg
In the words of environmentalist Bill McKibben, Keystone XL represents "a decision point about whether, now that we’re running out of the easy stuff, we’re going to go after the hard stuff."
After more than a century of fueling civilization with fossils, the easy oil -- those places where dead plankton and algae accumulated for millions of years in prehistoric seas, were entombed at just the right pressure and temperature for millions more, then arrived after the tectonic upheavals of multiple geological ages in spots easily accessible by big metal pipes -- is gone. What remains are places like Alberta's tar sands.
"Until five or six years ago, nobody knew tar sands were different than conventional oil drilling," said Grant. "There's been a shift in public engagement and public concern. There are policies indicating that the world is shifting away from higher-carbon oil towards a cleaner-energy economy. There's reason to be hopeful."
Image: The Athabasca river. (David Dodge, CPAWS/Pembina Institute/Flickr)
Backlink: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/wp-content/gallery/oilsands/athabasca.jpg
Unboxed: Steve Jobs and the Power of Taking the Big Chance
Backlink: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=aba06d7eebf15c08ac848e49703136c0
My son—now four, but three when I conceived this project—loves numbers and counting. More than a few times I’ve peeked in at night to find him asleep with a calculator in one hand and a flashlight in the other. And one of his favorite things to do with the calculator is incrementing “1 + = = = = = = = = = =” until he can’t keep his eyes open any more. I decided to build him a dedicated machine that would do nothing but count up and count down.The Counting Box (via Make)My initial concept was simple: a seven segment LED display so it could be read in the dark, a rotary switch in the middle to choose the value to operate with, and big buttons for adding and subtracting. Green makes the number get larger and red makes the number get smaller.
Kid’s “Counting Box” – press the big buttons to increment/decrement the total
Available for pre-order: “THE GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL TOMORROW”
Growing Need for "Big Data" Analysis Spurs Growth in KDD Conference
Backlink: http://www.kdnuggets.com/2011/08/kdd-2011-growing-need-for-big-data-analysis.html
Big Data and Machine Learning Engineer at State, London, UK
Backlink: http://www.kdnuggets.com/jobs/11/08-22-state-big-data-machine-learning-engineer.html
On Wall St., a Big Split on Outlook
Backlink: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=d1f42225c0bfc049596503fe1a482d34
An Electronics Show That Big Media Companies Dare Not Miss
Backlink: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=d6003451bd16e09aef17d695423b8b4f
U.S. Entices Big Banks in Canada
Backlink: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=272c2a0c18b4281aabe94073e6b32f94
From Big 3’s Clouds to Greener Pastures
Backlink: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=40cbdefc1d866938e84394f28285f8c5
Facebook Ramps Up Big E-Commerce Drive
Backlink: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2010/tc20101217_877527.htm
If you're the oil company you'll need to head straight for deep water. Sure it's risky, but that's where the money is. Set aside those moral scruples and go for the money. Do try and avoid the endangered species though, if any species becomes extinct, the PR backlash could shut you down and it's game over for both sides. If you're playing as Greenpeace you need to protect the ocean by setting up marine reserves. You can slow the oil companies down with direct actions (like occupying their rigs) but it's the creation of marine reserves that will finally end their deep sea drilling ambitions.Free "print & play" game: Big Oil Vs Greenpeace to save the ArcticOf course this isn't just a game. The world's oil companies really are trying to drill in some of the riskiest and most environmentally sensitive areas in the world. Marine reserves - think national parks at sea - really are the answer. World Park Antarctica is closed to industry because you helped us win the campaign to protect it. There's no reason we can't do the same in the Arctic, where oil companies are licking their lips as, without a trace of irony, they welcome the shrinking of the ice caps due to climate change. See, retreating ice frees up more places they can drill for oil. Unfortunately that will lead to more climate change. You see the problem here. We like to call this humanity's "Stupid Test."
Greenpeace v Big Oil, the CC-released environmental game
Backlink: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Gbf0ALkEbrM/greenpeace-v-big-oil.html
DealBook: Is Google Too Big to Shop?
Backlink: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=f8b9e74acbcfc68c108ada5e10016561
DealBook: A.I.G. Plans Big Sale of Treasury Shares
Backlink: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=69e1991294d1e3ce3ddf571a89633b5d
DealBook: Backing a Wind Farm, a Quiet Voice With a Big Stick
Backlink: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=593dcf433c3e2464036a0a0bfe27bfce
U.S. Counts Big Results in Fighting Fraud Cases
Backlink: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=56a3339cf5ca250d90f613558e26a5f2
Economic View: It’s the Big Questions That Slow Growth
Backlink: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=2057a50023d16ba72aa502c5701f9b8c
Backlink: http://feeds.howstuffworks.com/~r/DailyStuff/~3/3Y_3Gk3UJO8/really-big-things-videos-playlist.htm
Mind Tools: The Big Five Personality Traits Model
Backlink: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCDV_22.htm
