Since I've been writing Green Wheels columns on this website, I've never experienced such a hectic week. Watching the news of the disaster in New Orleans and on the skyrocketed price of oil, I sometimes feel like screaming madly: "We've been telling you for years! And now you're surprised?"
Afterwards, I get a call from people telling me how I've been a "visionary" and then, stupidly, my ego would stand up and I would briefly feel "brilliant". Were me and my friends were ever bright! I'll even admit that Saturday morning, going to a garage to check the tire pressures of my car, I took the time to find one where there was many big SUVs filling up, so I could aggravate them a bit.
But with age and reality, it didn't last long. There wasn't really much to get excited about.
Let's recap
February 16th, 2005: The date of the official application of the Kyoto protocol. A protocol that, I should remind you, represents a very small step in the battle against global warming, cause mainly by the use of combustible fossils such as oil and natural gas. This protocol represents 1/8 of what has to be accomplished in order to stabilize the situation of the global warming phenomenon. A battle we're far from winning...
June 2005: Important hike of the price of oil caused by a combination of factors, including speculation and geopolitical factors. This rise will cause major grumblings for the majority of motorists.
August 2005: Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans and its surroundings. This city is among the places considered to be most at risk to be submerged. It was so at risk that this scenario, published in a Montreal newspaper, was expected by the FEMA. Over four years ago, the American Federal Emergency Management Agency identified the three most catastrophic disasters that their country was susceptible to face.
The three scenarios were the following:
1: a terrorist attack in New York,
2: a major earthquake in San Francisco,
3: a hurricane in New Orleans.
"The agency's prediction, who were right twice now, was all but a premonition. There were many hints of the rising vulnerability of New Orleans. And many other experts were announcing the worst." That city was in fact mentioned in a documentary titled "the great warming" in which it was considered to be the next potential Atlantis. You can imagine why.
This city, established in a risky zone because it's under the sea level, is most vulnerable because of the rise in the level of the oceans, the increase in the number and force of hurricanes, as well as a territorial development that profoundly and lastingly disrupts the balance of the ecosystem that's quite particular for that region. Once again, our direct actions, such as real estate development, as well as our indirect actions, such as our fossil oil consumption, are at cause.
End of August 2005: This hurricane is the cause for gas prices at the pump climbing to $1.35 a litre*. Half of the oil platforms located in the Gulf of Mexico are paralyzed. Everyone is crying out loud, more and more intervenes are asking all levels of governments to reduce their taxes on the price of gas in order to counter this increase.
Can't we see that we're caught in a downward spiral that will collectively lead us to our demise?
Afterwards, I get a call from people telling me how I've been a "visionary" and then, stupidly, my ego would stand up and I would briefly feel "brilliant". Were me and my friends were ever bright! I'll even admit that Saturday morning, going to a garage to check the tire pressures of my car, I took the time to find one where there was many big SUVs filling up, so I could aggravate them a bit.
But with age and reality, it didn't last long. There wasn't really much to get excited about.
Let's recap
February 16th, 2005: The date of the official application of the Kyoto protocol. A protocol that, I should remind you, represents a very small step in the battle against global warming, cause mainly by the use of combustible fossils such as oil and natural gas. This protocol represents 1/8 of what has to be accomplished in order to stabilize the situation of the global warming phenomenon. A battle we're far from winning...
June 2005: Important hike of the price of oil caused by a combination of factors, including speculation and geopolitical factors. This rise will cause major grumblings for the majority of motorists.
August 2005: Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans and its surroundings. This city is among the places considered to be most at risk to be submerged. It was so at risk that this scenario, published in a Montreal newspaper, was expected by the FEMA. Over four years ago, the American Federal Emergency Management Agency identified the three most catastrophic disasters that their country was susceptible to face.
The three scenarios were the following:
1: a terrorist attack in New York,
2: a major earthquake in San Francisco,
3: a hurricane in New Orleans.
"The agency's prediction, who were right twice now, was all but a premonition. There were many hints of the rising vulnerability of New Orleans. And many other experts were announcing the worst." That city was in fact mentioned in a documentary titled "the great warming" in which it was considered to be the next potential Atlantis. You can imagine why.
This city, established in a risky zone because it's under the sea level, is most vulnerable because of the rise in the level of the oceans, the increase in the number and force of hurricanes, as well as a territorial development that profoundly and lastingly disrupts the balance of the ecosystem that's quite particular for that region. Once again, our direct actions, such as real estate development, as well as our indirect actions, such as our fossil oil consumption, are at cause.
End of August 2005: This hurricane is the cause for gas prices at the pump climbing to $1.35 a litre*. Half of the oil platforms located in the Gulf of Mexico are paralyzed. Everyone is crying out loud, more and more intervenes are asking all levels of governments to reduce their taxes on the price of gas in order to counter this increase.
Can't we see that we're caught in a downward spiral that will collectively lead us to our demise?