Nothing but the Truth

“What is truth”, asked Pontius Pilate.

In one sense the world is simple and transparent.  When one is out in nature, enjoying the sight and sounds of the natural world everything can seem wonderful, simple and true.  Then when we go into our work a day world we can also find comfort and simplicity in the known actions of daily routine.  When we look at a newspaper, pick up a book, listen to the radio or television, we can dull our minds into believing all is as it appears at first sight.

So when I began watching Moyers & Co. yesterday I was expecting something predictable, I would be incensed but on the same page with the guest.  But that was not the case at all and I was startled.  The topic was the Keystone Pipeline and the guest was Bill McKibben who I have listened to before.  He seems like a straightforward, honest type of guy but I became somewhat doubting as I listened.  He said Nebraska was the most fertile farm land in the world.  Nebraska?  Okay, I am not a farmer but somehow that did not sound correct to me.  Later he said something that sort of sailed by but I went “whoa, what was that”?  What he said was that only 3% of oil sands had as yet been exploited and there was still time to stop it.  Excuse me, but what was that again?  The reason he doesn’t want the pipeline to be made is not because of what disturbance it will have running along American land but because he wants to stop the growth of oil sands in Canada?  Nothing was said or expanded upon there but I had heard it and was disturbed by it.

Why?  I like transparency; I like advocates to say the whole story and not to have hidden agendas.  I also think that Americans have no business trying to stop Canadian industry.  I think Canada should take care of its own business, problems, concerns, whatever you want to call it.  When it comes to fossil fuels and alternatives I think that we are approaching a complex issue.  Living in Alberta and working in the oil and gas industry could make my opinion biased, I’m human after all, however common sense ought to tell anyone that you cannot simply shutdown a whole industry that employs more than 100,000 people!  Indeed, with spinoff jobs it is probably closer to 500,000 and perhaps even more than that.  A more rational way to stop addiction of fossil fuel is to take a balanced approach, with incentives for companies and individuals to use alternatives.  Unfortunately the appetite of industry to make a killing rather than a living constantly and one would assume, inevitably, destroys that alternative.  What do I mean?  As in other industries, the energy industry wants only a chosen few to reap the big rewards.  What incentive is there for me as a country dweller to set up an expensive windmill or solar panel system to harness energy when I have no financial incentive to have it go into the grid with a decent payback?  How can ordinary citizens be weaned off their polluting vehicles when there is little or no alternative transportation provided for them?

What is truth?  It’s simple really.  Cupidity.