Official (Alberta) Oil Discussion Thread

[nik-]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

My gut feeling is that when a lot of people say that they don't believe in climate change or they don't believe the science is in yet that they are really saying "I don't care about climate change and it's a waste of time and money". For many people, they are just worrying about their economy and day to day lives and pragmatic things and don't understand why everybody else is so up in arms about it and asking them to pay more taxes and change their behavioral patterns.

I care about it, I believe the science, I believe we're causing it. I just don't believe that society as a whole is honestly willing to change their lives in the way that solving the problem would actually require.

People can talk about solar and wind energy, but it's going to require a significant reduction in our style of life. I personally don't think people are willing.

The anti nuclear stance bothers me too. It's our best hope at maintaining our standard of living and still going green.

[longsuffering]

Originally Posted by peter12

This is rube et al's Stalingrad. They don't know much about markets or policy beyond ideological baffle-gab but the climate change issue is such a perfect wind up for them to lose all semblance of decor and launch their favourite little snarky one-liners.

Says the king on snarky one-liners. Jeezuz. You're insufferable.

[Slava]

nm, don't care.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

2. To debate our ability to control temperature is a moot point and a red herring. Adapting to a changing planet is something our race will always need to be aware of, and DO, if we hope to survive. Energy policy should be being debated right now, because the energy return on energy invested is dropping precipitously, and when that happens, a society faces a great deal of collapsing pressures. These pressures will be felt in OUR lifetime. We have to provide cheaper, cleaner, safer, more abundant energy to billions more people around the world and INDEPENDENT of the climate debate, this cannot be done with hydrocarbon or renewables.

The aliens are silent because they're dead

http://phys.org/news/2016-01-aliens-...eyre-dead.html

In research aiming to understand how life might develop, the scientists realised new life would commonly die out due to runaway heating or cooling on their fledgling planets.

"The universe is probably filled with habitable planets, so many scientists think it should be teeming with aliens," said Dr Aditya Chopra from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences and lead author on the paper, which is published in Astrobiology.

"Early life is fragile, so we believe it rarely evolves quickly enough to survive."

"Most early planetary environments are unstable. To produce a habitable planet, life forms need to regulate greenhouse gases such as water and carbon dioxide to keep surface temperatures stable."

"The mystery of why we haven't yet found signs of aliens may have less to do with the likelihood of the origin of life or intelligence and have more to do with the rarity of the rapid emergence of biological regulation of feedback cycles on planetary surfaces," he said.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by longsuffering

Says the king on snarky one-liners. Jeezuz. You're insufferable.

would you say he's longinsufferable?

[peter12]

Originally Posted by longsuffering

Says the king on snarky one-liners. Jeezuz. You're insufferable.

Hey, look at you!

[BigNumbers]

Jesus Christ folks, there are multiple threads to debate climate change - This isn't the one.

[Derek Sutton]

I have come to agree that climate change is a thing, and has been for 1000's of years. I also agree that increasing taxes will not change the weather.

[TheAlpineOracle]

I definitely acknowledge climate change, but I fully admit I don't care about climate change initiatives in Canada. Canada is responsible for only a small fraction emissions, we are overall an environmental conscious country and nothing we do will have any impact on the world as a whole while the main culprits continue polluting at a staggering rate. Why the hell should we shoot ourselves in the foot economically while the real problem children (China/India/USA/Japan/Russia/etc) continue on with their ways?

So I guess that it's not that I don't acknowledge climate, I just don't see any justification for me expecting myself or other Canadians to reduce their standard of living when there's no meaningful outcome of that. I also think that the environmental nut jobs have turned it up to such a level of ignorance that they have completely turned me off the whole environmental movement. They spew so much BS, rhetoric, and hypocrisy, and refuse to acknowledge any position outside of their own that I've become predisposed to just opposing anything they stand for. The fact that Canada (Alberta mostly) has become their whipping boy when there are so many countries doing so much worse (US) makes me damn near irate.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by BigNumbers

Jesus Christ folks, there are multiple threads to debate climate change - This isn't the one.

This is a thread about the Oil Alberta Discussions. The two go hand-in-hand. if you don't like it , don't post or read it.

[BigNumbers]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

This is a thread about the Oil Alberta Discussions. The two go hand-in-hand. if you don't like it , don't post or read it.

Then let's discuss house prices in Calgary in this thread, as well as job losses since they go hand in ha.... Ohh wait, they got separated into new threads, that's right.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by BigNumbers

Then let's discuss house prices in Calgary in this thread, as well as job losses since they go hand in ha.... Ohh wait, they got separated into new threads, that's right.

You can't have a discussion about the long-term outlook of the Alberta Oil Industry without touching on climate change.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Originally Posted by troutman

The aliens are silent because they're dead

http://phys.org/news/2016-01-aliens-...eyre-dead.html

In research aiming to understand how life might develop, the scientists realised new life would commonly die out due to runaway heating or cooling on their fledgling planets.

"The universe is probably filled with habitable planets, so many scientists think it should be teeming with aliens," said Dr Aditya Chopra from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences and lead author on the paper, which is published in Astrobiology.

"Early life is fragile, so we believe it rarely evolves quickly enough to survive."

"Most early planetary environments are unstable. To produce a habitable planet, life forms need to regulate greenhouse gases such as water and carbon dioxide to keep surface temperatures stable."

"The mystery of why we haven't yet found signs of aliens may have less to do with the likelihood of the origin of life or intelligence and have more to do with the rarity of the rapid emergence of biological regulation of feedback cycles on planetary surfaces," he said.

The most entertaining write up I've read on the Fermi paradox to date.

http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html

[SeeGeeWhy]

Originally Posted by BigNumbers

Jesus Christ folks, there are multiple threads to debate climate change - This isn't the one.

What do you suppose oil prices will be when humanity switches away from it's use?

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

What do you suppose oil prices will be when humanity switches away from it's use?

My guess is high, because I think its unlikely humanity will switch until it does so for economic reasons.

It's a huge prisoners dilemma, anyone who doesn't switch will be able to capture all the lifestyle upgrades of cheap, efficient, easily transportable energy at a lower cost if most countries stop using it. That country will then accrue huge increases in standard of living and productivity compared to the rest of the world, and significant economic advantages in tradeable goods and services.

[Slava]

I should redact my comments about global warming because heading outside today I have experienced it first-hand.

[Izzle]

^ Not sure if green text?

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Izzle

^ Not sure if green text?

Look I might not be a scientist, (so shouldn't be making comments about scientific issues, lesson learned!), but I'm not a completely moron either!

ETA: http://www.therecord.com/news-story/...-winter-winds/

[Izzle]

Lol, no worries dude.

I guess we can both agree that DiCaprio is a grade A idiot.

Hopefully, the movie can do well and people will want to come visit Alberta. Low $$s should also help.

[afc wimbledon]

I don't know if climate change is either real or our fault, frankly I don't really care, as a species we are absurd, we crap where we eat with abandon, there's getting to be as much plastic in the ocean as there are fish, we drive round in absurdly large cars we don't need meanwhile a guy in Mexico who can barely feed his kids grows produce for me so cheap that I let 1/3rd of it go to waste and just throw it away.

None of this is neccersary, gas should cost a fortune, food should be expensive enough that we can't afford to waste it while the guy growing and picking it can live a decent life, most people should have to catch trains or buses, we should be forced to be a less wasteful more frugal people, half the world goes to bed hungry while I have a fridge damn near as big as a small car. My existence is obscene, I don't blame ISIS for hating us, I hate us. We are pigs in the west, if the fear of death is what it takes for us to stop being pigs so be it, I'm happy to go along.