Thursday, July 30, 2015

108 Degrees. Oregon is the new Sahara.

Yikes.  It's hot.  Was 108, but now its cooled to about 106.  Wow, the relief!  Kidding.

This isn't the Oregon I know.  Where are you cool misty gray Oregon?  What have you done to yourself?  What have we done to you?

Is this a freak winter/summer or have we screwed up the climate so this is the new norm?  I don't know.  Another Oregon city has declared a water emergency..  In southern Oregon, the woods are closed and its unlawful to travel on some roads without a shovel, ax and fire extinguisher.

In Portland, a colorful battle has raged all day.  Greenpeace protesters dangled from the St. Johns bridge on the Willamette River, with long flags blowing from each, to block a Shell oil ice breaking ship they want to use to keep ice away from their drilling rigs up in the Arctic.  Protesters claim if the icebreaker got a hole torn through its hull, which is why the ship was in Portland, for repair of that hole, the same will happen to the drilling rig, creating a huge spill that will never go away and destroy the fragile arctic.

To read the story, see photos and video, click here.

It's hard to not believe that.  But should we all stop driving or using petroleum based products?  The colorful kayaks that surrounded the ship are plastic and made from petroleum, I believe, and were probably transported to the launch point on cars that run on petroleum.  What are we to do?  Nobody wants the Arctic trashed, except for those who don't give a rip about much of anything.  But is it hypocritical to protest drilling for a product one then uses?

We don't have alternatives to using petroleum, that are cost effective. Is it ok if its drilled out of our sight and doesn't destroy lands in America but rather elsewhere? Will we ever have cost effective alternatives?   Or, will we before we destroy most of this planet in various ways?   Our species is reactive not progressive.    I doubt it.  I'm skeptical, you see, from age, and seeing the same old for decades without real change.  Money runs our society.  The quest for money is our most cherished value.  As evidence, look how the poor are trashed!

My guess is we won't change until there's money in change or we have to change.

The battle in Portland was spectacular!  Colorful kayaks, a sailboat, protesters dangling from ropes off a bridge, all to fight a massive ship leaving for the Arctic to break up the ice, so a drill can be sent into the bowels of the earth to suck out rotted dinosaurs so we can type on plastic keyboards and watch screens that display the protest or drive to watch it live, in our gas engine cars.

Wow!




12 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:17 PM

    Yes, we are hypocritical but is an aim of having your cake and eating it too not desirable? I think the oil companies know that if there is one more spill like the last one, they can kiss goodbye to sea drilling rigs anywhere near North America. Now what happened to Jed's Texas crude, which I seem to recall was in the much better place for oil drilling?

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    Replies
    1. They do fracking in Texas now, besides drilling straight. They inject high pressure dirty water deep into the earth to break it apart and suck oil somehow, and they will also run lines sideways, once underground. This has resulted in hundreds of earthquakes per month in Oklahoma, destroying homes and lives, so far without consequence to the companies doing it. I don't think we will wake up and smell the roses. Texas crud you mean? I don't know any answers because we do love our cake but we have to eat it also, with mud on our face.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous7:49 PM

      Many in Australia are fighting against fracking. It is temporarily banned in my state. It is also causing issues in Britain. I heard a few years ago now about the disaster it has been in the US, so people in other countries are very wary now.

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    3. It's too bad it continues here unabated and enthusiastically. Even in places it is causing tremendous problems, the people do not rise up, I guess because of jobs. I don't know. But not in our state, thank goodness.

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  2. It isn't easy. I am convinced that we need to start investing money and time into researching energy alternatives. However, I don't have the money or influence for my convictions to mean anything.
    I really, really hope your temperatures drop. That is waaaaay too hot.

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    Replies
    1. It's cooking here and there are lots of people without AC, including old people.

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  3. That's hot then at 108 which is about 42 deg C...in parts of Australia in summer it goes beyond that degrees..
    Drilling of oil can be a very touchy subject due to oil spillage as you say...one day there most likely be an alternative but not in my time..

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    Replies
    1. Well, walking, which I did a lot of today, but not very efficient for getting to work on time.

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  4. Oh, I hope things are a little cooler today because those temperatures are dangerously high. We've been going into the 90's every day, but we have not reached 100 yet this summer.

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    Replies
    1. I went to the coast today with three cats, for dentals. I had to use windshield wipers, fog was so heavy at first. But the sun came out, but it wasn't hot like in the valley.

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  5. Off the subject, but have you ever considered writing a book??

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