Peak oil and the Australian Government
A little while ago I wrote to The Member for Eden Monaro Dr Mike Kelly asking for some information on how the Australian Government was dealing with Global Oil Depletion. Dr Kelly responded with a copy of a speech by Mr Martin Ferguson, Energy & Resources Minister. While I don’t have an electronic copy to post here, I have put together a brief ethical analysis of the approaches outlined in the speech. There are a couple of issues of serious concern that the Christian community really needs to look into and get vocal about, I’ve attached 2 points from the conclusion of the report that describe these. For the full analysis, go to: The Response of the Australian Government to the current oil crisis - Ethical Analysis.
Please take a minute to think this through. I will be sending this back to Dr Kelly to ensure that I have not misunderstood anything and to ask for a response. If I had to put what’s happening in a nutshell, I’d say that we’ve been caught out by at least a decade of inaction on renewable energy, fortified by greed and vested interests dressed up as common sense or in the worst instances, given religious justification. We are now approaching a crisis and our seemingly desperate response is to revert to primal instincts and take what we can from others to postpone our own fall. Once again, I am reminded that we have been warned long ago, and that our Christianity is about to be sorely tested. Will we quietly allow the poor to be robbed for the sake of our own comfort?
“The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” 1 Peter 4:7-8
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“Instead of recognising the geological reality, half of the blame is given to Arab nations. The speech implies that enough oil can be produced in the Middle East to relieve the pressure on us. The evidence suggests the opposite. At best, this will increase Australia’s dependence on Middle Eastern oil along with the security concerns that brings; at worst it lends our support to highly suspect actions such as the Iraqi Oil Law that effectively plunder the resources of the Middle East for our own interests. Whatever the case, it unjustly focuses the blame for rising fuel and food costs on Arab nations, fomenting the tension between Islamic nations and the “Christian” west.
The other half of the blame goes to the rest of the Third World. Mr. Ferguson tells us that developing nations have been growing too quickly due to their fuel subsidies, and that those subsidies are driving the price of oil up for the rest of us. This is quite likely part of the reason. It is a bad thing to have artificial growth based on something that will one day cut out and leave it’s dependants stranded (as it appears to be doing for us). The answer however is not to pressure those nations to remove the subsidies so that starvation can begin right now. Countries have a right to support their poor in this way even if it is not the best approach. Neither Australia or the G8 nations have a right to demand that they stop for our own economic interests; if we want them to stop we need to provide aid to find alternatives.”
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September 7th, 2008 at 4:49 pm