It’s strange: Alberta stands to gain from global warming. Floods, Blizzards, and dustbowl conditions on the east/southeast parts of the province aside, our summers are getting longer, our weather all around feels more temperate (just throws an occasional temper tantrum), and huge tracts of land stand to become arable (read: profitable). It makes it hard to keep the worldwide problem at the front of your mind, and it’s hard to convince the people around you that it’s a big deal, when you’re standing in the one place in the world that stands to gain from both the cause and effect, even if the rest of the world will suffer, and big time.

A thought that wakes me up at night in a cold sweat is that there are people here in Calgary hoping the war goes on forever, just so they can make their payments on that sweet new Ferrari they just bought (that they can only drive for 5 months out of 12).
Onward Christian soldiers….

Feeling tired today?

lol

Here’s one “fellow Calgarian” that disagrees.

The connection between Alberta’s oil boom and Iraq is tenuous, but it is still there. The boom in Alberta was already going on, but the fear and speculation in the market after Iraq was invaded caused prices to rise, and Alberta experienced an intensification of its oil boom, as techniques and systems which normally couldn’t pay themselves off were now capable of doing so.
The same, or similar things are happening in other parts of the world as well, and I think I may have commented on this before. The reason the boom is so big in Alberta is because we are right next door to the US, which is a goliath market for oil and gas. Couple that to the inherent Canadian market for oil and gas, and you’ve got yourself a market situation that’s so hot, it sizzles.

I’m currently working from the frontline in the boom, and it’s gotten so drastic now, that oil companies are seeking to tap reserves that are located right next to populated areas. Most of the oil pockets in this area are sour wells as well, so there is significant risk to public safety, but with the market in its current state, the threat to some human lives is justifiable in the face of the near-limitless profits that can be garnered from the sale of oil.

I’m seeing some real innovation in the fields of “green” production when it comes to oil and gas, but really, it’s just an economic free-for-all, and the provincial government is loathe to tamper with any kind of market or environmental controls. If old Ralph was still in, I’d be making a “Klein vs. Klein” quip, but that’s no longer the case, so I’ll refrain.

However, despite the madness, this province is still my home, and after the oil industry runs itself through on its own blade, there will (and by will, I mean should) be enough money in the system to do some kind of good.

Now, what kind of good that will be, remains to be seen. Alberta doesn’t exactly have the best reputation for helping their own.