Shale Gas
Sir, With respect to Professor Selley, he is an oil exploration geologist by vocation. Therefore, although not surprised, I am very disappointed by his woefully incomplete critique of Oil Shale exploration in Geoscientist this month. Furthermore, I do not much care for his attempt at humour over what is such a serious subject.
Oil Shale exploration is a dangerously flawed strategy for the same reason that dividing up the seabed beneath the soon-to-be-absent Arctic Sea Ice is wrong. We have known for over 100 years that releasing CO2 into the atmosphere faster than the Earth system can assimilate it may put the whole planet in as perilous a situation as the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission. It is a scientifically demonstrable fact that doubling the CO2 concentration will drive average global temperatures up about three degrees Celsius. Therefore, just as most people stop smoking once they understand that it shortens their life expectancy, we need to stop burning fossil fuels now that we know it causes global warming.
Although Greenpeace may have to deploy dubious arguments to oppose genetically modified organisms or nuclear power, their opposition to chasing every last drop of ever-more-harder-to-extract fossil fuel is just common sense. Therefore, Greenpeace was probably delighted when BP changed its name to “Beyond Petroleum”; and utterly despondent when they recently repudiated that idea by announcing they would go after “unconventional oil” with a vengeance.
As a species, we have a seriously life-threatening carbon habit; one that we need to kick as soon as possible. Paying for the methadone substitute (renewable energy – tidal being the best option for the UK) will be much less painful than eventually having to go “cold turkey”. As George Monbiot has recently pointed out (The Guardian, 2 May 2011), our problem is not that we have too little fossil fuel; but that we have too much. Furthermore, we don’t seem to have the self-control to stop using it.
Finally, if it is considered helpful to quote Bible verses to back up an argument, I would go for:
- I have the right to do anything’, you say—but not everything is beneficial” (I Corinthians 6:12).