Canada, oh Canada. About oil, natural gas, rainforest and what the hell is it to me?
From my former "farm" animals in their new home in Hesse from one of my last posts, Projekt Lebenshof1Patrick Ruppelt, Where senses and intellect meet, Lebenshof project, 26 October 2024, https://paddys.de/projekt-lebenshof/let's jump across the pond to Canada.
I associate Canada with snow, natural resources, Niagara Falls and the maple leaf of the red and white flag. I can't think of any companies that have built anything. Only those that mine nature. Lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt, copper and rare earths are just a few prominent examples from whose effects even Germany cannot exempt itself.2 Inga Carry, German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Raw materials partner Canada: an (almost) perfect match, 21 June 2024, https://www.swp-berlin.org/10.18449/2024A27/ Besides pretty much everything that has to do with fossil fuels3 RWE Aktiengesellschaft, en:former, The energy giant Canada today and tomorrow, https://www.en-former.com/der-energieriese-kanada-heute-und-morgen/
The extraction of crude oil from oil sands, which is common practice in Canada, is particularly tragic for nature and people. This is the most absurd way of extracting an energy source that you can think of. Just writing about it makes me angry. To put it simply, it's about the following. Nature's graveyard is located in the layers of earth below 20 metres. Over millions of years, plants, algae and plankton have been pressed into bitumen, from which crude oil is extracted. However, this cannot be pumped out as we know it, because it is only 12% in a mixture of watery clay and sand. To get to the oil, hundreds of billions of litres of water are pumped into the ground every year in the form of hot steam and the oil sand is washed out. All life is destroyed in the process. Forests, animals and entire habitats disappear forever. What remains are wastelands and lakes contaminated with cadmium, arsenic, carcinogenic hydrocarbons and the neurotoxin mercury, in which every animal that has survived the environmental catastrophe dies4Christoph von Lieven, Greenpeace e.V., Paper, Oil sands mining in Canada: dramatic ecological and climatic impacts, 2/2010, https://www.greenpeace.de/sites/default/files/publications/FS100115_oelsand_0.pdf.
The whole process is so energy-intensive that a third of the energy extracted is already used to produce it. Nevertheless, the oil industry profits from it at the expense of nature. Shell, BP, Exxon Mobil, Total, Suncor, Syncrude, Statoil Hydro, they are all radically destroying Canada's nature without regard for losses 5Christoph von Lieven, Greenpeace e.V., Paper, Oil sands mining in Canada: dramatic ecological and climatic impacts, 2/2010, https://www.greenpeace.de/sites/default/files/publications/FS100115_oelsand_0.pdf.
To get an idea of the dimensions, it is worth taking a look at satellite images. Satellites are emotionless, they don't lie. Trump supporters may also see a conspiracy behind satellites6Starlink deployment after hurricane: Trump claims Musk helped because of him - US government contradicts, FOCUS online, BurdaForward GmbH, 1 October 2024, https://www.focus.de/politik/ausland/us-wahl/starlink-einsatz-nach-hurricane-helene-trump-behauptet-mit-musk-gesprochen-zu-haben-us-regierung-widerspricht_id_260357446.htmlbut how I can pick up this group of people, when it would be so important to reach them, is something I've been racking my brains over for six months. Not with scientific arguments, that much is certain. A topic in itself.
A screenshot from Google Maps should have appeared here. But since I have just been warned by the dpa (German Press Agency) for violating image rights and had to pay a fine of a few hundred euros... you'll have to be satisfied with the following link and look for yourself: https://maps.app.goo.gl/GkDkt7qhpHHhUUVp9
Back to the areas on which the so-called crude oil has been or is being extracted. We're not talking about a few oil fields, but hundreds or thousands of toxic waste fields the size of England7Alexander Kershaw, "The Alberta tar sands. Canada's oil costs more than it makes, Ascolta LifeGate Radio online, 27 April 2016, https://www.lifegate.com/alberta-tar-sands-unprofitable-2which are tragic witnesses to the industrialised history of mankind. The area of England. An area as large as England.
Nevertheless, the Canadian government continues to fuel this nonsense by not attending the G7 climate summit, not enforcing a CO2 price, subsidising and promoting fossil fuels, and even buying up pipelines that have become uneconomical in order to save them from closure8 Nora Löhle, Programme Manager Energy and Environmental Policy, Heinrich Böll Foundation e.V., Trudeau's climate policy: Nothing but empty words, 3.10.2019, https://www.boell.de/de/2019/10/08/trudeaus-klimapolitik-nichts-als-leere-worthuelsen.
The only way to end these outrages for good is to completely abandon fossil fuels. This will not happen in the next few decades (my opinion).
This makes it all the more important that we establish as many protected areas as possible. Let's jump a little further west, to the west coast. If you've been following me for a while, you've probably experienced last year's fundraising marathon9Patrick Ruppelt, Where senses and mind meet, rainforest in Canada, 15.9.2023, https://paddys.de/regenwald-in-kanada/. We collected over €3,700 and, as promised, I doubled the donation to the proud sum of €7,553.3210Patrick Ruppelt, Where senses and mind meet, Misty Forest, 15.9.2023, https://paddys.de/campaigns/regenwald-zu-meinem-geburtstag/. And exactly for that. The protection of Canada's forests. The money went to the Wilderness International Foundation, which bought over 7,500 square metres of Canadian rainforest for us and placed it under protection. In the meantime, I've added a lot more, both in Canada and in Peru. There are already over 14,000 square metres. A drop in the ocean, but every drop hollows the stone. This year I'm planning an even bigger "rescue operation".
It seems very cynical when I read a few days ago that the Canadians are actually going to drill for natural gas in front of my own pet. Stefan Krug, head of the Greenpeace regional office in Bavaria, writes about this:
"According to estimates, the gas field under Reichling could contain between 300 and 500 million cubic metres of gas. Certainty about the size and quality of the deposit is to be provided by an exploratory well at a depth of up to 3,000 metres using a 40-metre-high drilling rig. This was granted on 26 June 2024 by Bergamt Südbayern, an authority subordinate to the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs.
A drilling rig for an exploratory borehole is expected to be erected there at the beginning of 2025. This was approved by the Bavarian Mining Authority at the end of June 2024 in the face of opposition from the municipality, the district administrator and a local citizens' initiative. The Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) had previously authorised and welcomed natural gas exploration - i.e. the search for this climate-damaging fuel. Further gas projects in the idyllic Ammersee region and in the district of Miesbach could follow."11 Stefan Krug Head of the Greenpeace regional office in Bavaria, No new gas in Bavaria - New fossil fuel projects threaten our environment and our climate, https://www.greenpeace.de/klimaschutz/energiewende/gasausstieg/kein-neues-gas-in-bayern
Hubert Aiwanger will no doubt be hoping for significant tax revenues and a consolidation of his position as Bavaria's Minister of Economic Affairs. That would be understandable. But at what price? Does Aiwanger really want to revive fossil fuel extraction in Germany for a bit of power and coal, er, gas? Or is he just a puppet of Söder? It is not a new assumption that Söder is a narcissist. The SPIEGEL, for example, reported on this12 Florian Gathmann, Stoiber praises Söder "I don't see what he's not doing right at the moment", SPIEGEL Politik, DER SPIEGEL (online), 6 April 2018, https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/markus-soeder-laedt-edmund-stoiber-ein-und-laesst-sich-ausgiebig-loben-a-1201532.html and the Münchner Merkur13Katarina Amtmann, Heftige Kritik an Söder: "Schaffen Sie es mal einen Tweet zu schreiben, in dem SIE nicht vorkommen?", Merkur, publisher: Münchener Zeitungs-Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, 25 APRIL 2024, https://www.merkur.de/bayern/kritik-markus-soeder-tweet-abitur-csu-chef-ministerpraesident-bayern-instagram-93025464.html.
Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger continues to fuel global warming regardless of the consequences. What many people don't realise is that the main component of natural gas is methane. That's right, it is precisely this methane that heats up the earth 84 times more than CO2 over 20 years14 Climate protection needs a gas phase-out - Fossil natural gas is fuelling the climate crisis, Greenpeace e.V., https://www.greenpeace.de/klimaschutz/energiewende/gasausstieg. Aiwanger puts the interests of the fossil fuel industry above the well-being of people and nature in the region15WINDKRAFT-JOURNAL.DE, Bayerns Geschenk an fossile Konzerne: CSU und Freie Wähler verhindern Erdgas-Förderabgabe, 10.10.2024, https://www.windkraft-journal.de/2024/10/10/bayerns-geschenk-an-fossile-konzerne-csu-und-freie-waehler-verhindern-erdgas-foerderabgabe/205176?doing_wp_cron=1730246838.7325539588928222656250 and beyond16What impact do methane emissions have and what is the industry doing about them?, Johanna Brandtner, Head of Sustainability & Environment, German Association for Natural Gas, Petroleum and Geoenergy (BVEG), https://www.bveg.de/umwelt-sicherheit/buerger-fragen-uns/welche-auswirkungen-haben-methanemissionen-und-was-tut-die-industrie-dagegen/.
People, you remember, are the ones who pay for our politicians' fancy cars. People are the ones who have made our politicians what they are today. Speaking of cars. How hypocritical can it get? First announcing that you drive an emission-free company car and then suggesting that you are in favour of "promoting the bioeconomy and circular economy"17 Jürgen Marks, Head of Press Office, Bavaria's Minister of Economic Affairs will be driving a company car with a climate-neutral hydrogen drive in the coming months, 20 June 2023, https://www.bayern.de/bayerns-wirtschaftsminister-fhrt-in-den-nchsten-monaten-einen-dienstwagen-mit-klimaneutralem-wasserstoffantrieb/ and then publicly criticise the EU decision to phase out the combustion engine and claim that "The end of the combustion engine is fatal for the German car industry."18Julia Meidinger, Aiwanger: The end of the combustion engine is "fatal" for the automotive industry, BR24, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Anstalt des öffentlichen Rechts, 25.7.2024, https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/aiwanger-verbrenner-aus-ist-toedlich-fuer-automobilindustrie,UJUcgid. How does that fit together?
Apart from the fact that it is not the EU's ban on combustion engines that is fatal for the German car industry, but the fact that Germany has missed the turnaround to electromobility precisely because of the policies of Aiwanger (FW), Söder (CSU), Lindner (FDP) and all the others. China has long since overtaken us in all areas of electromobility, from research and battery technologies to production19Cedric Engels, Doctor Whatson, The future of e-cars is being decided NOW, 3 November 2024, https://youtu.be/And-kNNHbS4. But apart from that, voters expect integrity20FREIE WÄHLER parliamentary group presents key issues paper "Integrity and Transparency" - Hold: Stop any unethical business dealings, FREIE WÄHLER parliamentary group, 11 May 2021, https://fw-landtag.de/aktuelles/presse/pressemitteilungen-detailsE/freie-waehler-fraktion-legt-eckpunktepapier-integritaet-und-transparenz-vor.
And that brings us to the next serious problem. I can't understand why so many citizens are disenchanted with politics and feel let down by politicians on the one hand, but on the other hand vote for the same conservative or even right-wing parties over and over again. Or don't vote at all. Or vote for the AfD out of spite, which I find the worst. That hasn't helped for the last 35 years, why should it suddenly change anything now? Our democracy is a gift that the generations before us have fought hard for. Make something of it.
If you ask me, the only alternatives for a more sustainable Germany are the Greens and the Left. But what do I know, I'm not a politician. Although, even politicians who have sat in the EU Parliament - but neither for one party nor the other - say that and explain exactly why the CDU/CSU, SPD and FDP will never act in the interests of the citizens21Nico Semsrott, Member of the European Parliament from July 2019 to July 2024, Seeing Brussels and Dying, https://youtu.be/l1muuLA_Egc...
If you're wondering why you've never heard of this politically motivated madness about fossil fuels, there's a simple explanation. Germans read the BILD newspaper. Nobody wants to admit it, but BILD is the German daily newspaper with the highest circulation. And it belongs to the Axel Springer publishing group, which also owns Die Welt, HÖRZU, Business Insider and StepStone, as well as Politico, a "leading global news channel specialising in politics and providing insight, information and authority to an influential audience"22Presseplus, The Axel Springer Publishing House, 3.12.2023, https://www.presseplus.de/blog/axel-springer-verlag/. And Axel Springer Verlag, which is majority-owned by the financial investor KKR23Statista, Shareholder structure of Axel Springer SE in May 2021, https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/411232/umfrage/aktionaersstruktur-der-axel-springer-se/which is known to invest in the fossil fuel industry 24Cedric Engels, Doktor Whatson, Die dreistesten Lügen über E-Autos | Reaction to BILD, 29.9.2024, https://youtu.be/35wlWezkU8E and even fills Putin's war chest by financing the construction of several oil freighters transporting Russian oil after the outbreak of the Ukraine war25Jesko zu Dohna, Berliner Zeitung, Axel Springer shareholder KKR: The dirty Russian business, 14 June 2023, https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/politik-gesellschaft/axel-springer-gesellschafter-das-schmutzige-russland-geschaeft-von-kkr-li.358965. A rogue be he who thinks evil of it.
Are you still surprised that BILD notoriously lies in its reports such as "Every second person doesn't believe in the end of the combustion engine", "Grid agency wants to restrict charging of e-cars", "Bitter electricity bill for e-car owners"?26Cedric Engels, Doktor Whatson, Die dreistesten Lügen über E-Autos | Reaction to BILD, 29.9.2024, https://youtu.be/35wlWezkU8E? I find the lie that e-cars have a worse CO2 footprint over their entire service life than combustion engines particularly bad, because I fell for it myself. BILD titled this "First experts sure - e-cars now dirtier than combustion engines". BILD relied on a flawed and outdated meta-study by a single journalist from 2017, in which the author drew false conclusions from the figures of other studies. The mistake was admitted, but the study is still haunting many people's minds27Cedric Engels, Doktor Whatson, Die dreistesten Lügen über E-Autos | Reaktion auf die BILD, Experten sind sich sicher: E-Autos sind dreckiger als Verbrenner!, 29.9.2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35wlWezkU8E&t=3s. In mine too, although I don't remember reading about it in the BILD. I don't know how you feel about it. I think it's creepy.
So, how do I now turn the page to something nice? I once said that I always want to end on a positive note. That gives me an idea. Beauty often lies in the small and hidden. There are so many animals that we have never heard of. Because no one has told us that they exist. Because we don't take the time to research them ourselves. Luckily, there's me. I do nothing else all day and yet I know so little.
Have you ever heard of the naft snail? Not a typo.
Fascinating creature that lives in the intertidal zones on the west coast of Canada. Exactly where our forever protected forest stands. It has adapted perfectly to its habitat. It protects a pretty shell, which finally got me drawing again after a long time. More on that in a moment. But first I'll finish telling you what I think is so cool about the naft snail. At high tide, it breathes through its gill filaments. At low tide, it sucks onto the rock and eats. It grazes the algae that grows on its rock and thus keeps the sea clean. Its tiny teeth made of goethite, the hardest known biological material, help it to do this. Anyone who thinks that lame snails only crawl around haphazardly is far from it. The naft snail is more or less sedentary. At night, it uses its own crawling tracks to find its way home again28Anton Kamolz, Member of the Board of Trustees, Wilderness International, Newsletter of 27 October 2024, https://7gkts.r.sp1-brevo.net/mk/mr/sh/1t6AVsd2XFnIGNTuQ2IRLoySSWF0g0/-stY9IPxgo78.
I wanted to remind myself of the beauty and importance of my rainforest project, even a year later. So I spoke to my AI again. The result is what I think is a wonderful greeting card, which you can now find in my Merch Shop29Paddy's Merch Shop, https://shop.paddys.de/product/greetings-card-naftschnecke-square-portrait-125cm-x-125cm/ can order. It is produced on wood-free paper with colours from plants, vegan and without plastic. It costs €6, which roughly corresponds to my production costs. I add a further €4 from my own pocket and donate the full €10 to Wilderness International30Wilderness International (Canada), registered non-profit organisation, https://wilderness-international.org/informieren/ueber-uns/wilderness-canada10 square metres of rainforest in Canada31Welcome to the "Misty Forest", Wilderness International, https://wilderness-international.org/region/misty-forest# to be protected. 😊🌿🐚
The small print
The number of greeting cards is limited to the money in my account.
Please join the petition against the new drilling rigs in Bavaria. Only around 7,800 people have signed it so far. Far too few people know about it. You can find the Greenpeace petition here32No new gas in Bavaria! New fossil fuel projects threaten our environment and our climate, Greenpeace e.V., https://www.greenpeace.de/klimaschutz/energiewende/gasausstieg/kein-neues-gas-in-bayern. Thank you.
The Umweltinstitut München e.V. has also launched a petition. It already has a good 21,000 signatories. It only takes a minute to join this one too. Here33eilaktion: Keine Bohrt%C3%BCrme am Ammersee!, Umweltinstitut München e.V., https://umweltinstitut.org/energie-und-klima/mitmachaktionen/keine-bohrtuerme-am-ammersee/to participate directly. Thank you. Thank you.
Share this post. Talk to your family, friends and colleagues. The more people talk about it, the sooner we can make the change to a more sustainable life.
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