Drilling Us Into Apocalypse

Dear Mr. President,

“Understandably, I think the American people right now have been so focused and will continue to be focused on our economy and jobs and growth, that if the message is somehow we're going to ignore jobs and growth simply to address climate change, I don't think anybody is going to go for that. I won't go for that.” Your words at a press conference on November 14. Maybe your comment was the result of being briefed on the IEA’s annual “World Energy Outlook” report released 2 days earlier that predicted the U.S. would surpass Russia in natural gas production by 2015 and Saudi Arabia in the production of oil by 2017. But energy independence does not mean we can ignore global warming, for the report also states that emissions will increase by 35-40% by 2035 and that the U.S.’s increase of oil and gas comes from fracking, a clear environmental threat, one which you have chosen to ignore. Included in the IEA report is this: the U.S. will overtake Russia and Saudi Arabia because their reserves have reached peak and output is declining. And last week, the 85-page World Bank report, “Turn Down the Heat” reads like Apocalypse Now. Previous predictions of a 2^o C rise in temperature due to global warming, the maximum scientists say can be tolerated, appear too optimistic since the 2 biggest polluters—China and the U.S.— along with other countries are doing little to curb emissions in any significant way. “Turn Down the Heat” predicts a 4^o C increase, an increase extreme enough to create apocalyptic conditions. Already, temperatures have increased by about 0.8^o C and that small rise has resulted in drought, wildfires and superstorms—the most recent being Sandy. In this year so far, there have been 14 natural events which caused more than a billion dollars in damage, all related to global warming, and this with only a small rise in temperature. The fossil fuel plutocrats are cheered by your lack of regulation of fracking, by your approval of the Keystone pipeline, by your opening of the Arctic to drilling, by your nonparticipation in the climate change conference going on in Doha, Qatar right now. Drill Baby Drill is drilling us into Apocalypse. For you to not address climate change is the ultimate crime against humanity for you know and still do nothing, which is tantamount to committing future generations to apocalyptic conditions of suffering and deprivation, possibly extinction. But today is Kill List Tuesday and you have other things on your mind.