[Blacksmith]

Treaties be dammed, to quote Bismark " Might is right".

[Judgie]

What an interesting couple...... oil tankers and ice packs .
Seriously, I believe the logistics alone would put paid to such an endeavour.

[Blacksmith]

I guess I can speak with as much authority as most on the Artic or at least on the Canadian Artic. Discoveries to date in the Artic Islands have been disappointing and the logistic problems of moving the natural gas and oil south is horrendously expensive and to say the least technologically challenging.

[HorneyGeekBoi]

It doesnt matter if we find as much oil than has ever been extracted and discovered so far, the problem is unsustainability of this consumerist capitalist system. If we dont move to sustainable living, and zero population growth (or at the most, very small population growth) then we will be screwed.

[Judgie]

If we dont move to sustainable living, and zero population growth (or at the most, very small population growth) then we will be screwed.

There's a good chance that we won't actually have a choice in this. Sooner or later big brother will smell the coffee........

[NotMyBlood]

Well, I think you guys are forgetting about the promising technology of nano combined with other projects/research like dark/dark energy and all the alt energy research going on.

I predict some time btw 2020-2030, scientists will have created a pill that provides for all the nutrition a human being needs and "more"(like on-demand boners, which internet porn is currently handling) in a day. Need a new liver? no problem...new heart, again no problem.

By 2050-2060 we will have found a suitable planet to migrate to and colonize(I suspect the Indians there will get fucked again). There wont be any more "frontiers" on planet earth(how boring).

Earth will become like a low-rent ghetto. Teenagers from planet X will cruise down and by illegal narcotics.

However , it all depends on how much cheap energy wil extract from the arctic or somewhere else. We have to keep this thing running for another 15-30 years so all the above can happen....

[NotMyBlood]

Well, I think you guys are forgetting about the promising technology of nano combined with other projects/research like dark/dark energy and all the alt energy research going on.

I predict some time btw 2020-2030, scientists will have created a pill that provides for all the nutrition a human being needs and "more"(like on-demand boners, which internet porn is currently handling) in a day. Need a new liver? no problem...new heart, again no problem - actaully thats happening now, ummmm new skin becuase your 80 years old and its wrinkled? No problem.....

By 2050-2060 we will have found a suitable planet to migrate to and colonize(I suspect the Indians there will get fucked again). There wont be any more "frontiers" on planet earth(how boring).

Earth will become like a low-rent ghetto. Teenagers from planet X will cruise down and by illegal narcotics.

However , it all depends on how much cheap energy wil extract from the arctic or somewhere else. We have to keep this thing running for another 15-30 years so all the above can happen.

[Judgie]

Well, I think you guys are forgetting about the promising technology of nano combined with other projects/research like dark/dark energy and all the alt energy research going on.

I predict some time btw 2020-2030, scientists will have created a pill that provides for all the nutrition a human being needs and "more"(like on-demand boners, which internet porn is currently handling) in a day. Need a new liver? no problem...new heart, again no problem.

By 2050-2060 we will have found a suitable planet to migrate to and colonize(I suspect the Indians there will get fucked again). There wont be any more "frontiers" on planet earth(how boring).

Earth will become like a low-rent ghetto. Teenagers from planet X will cruise down and by illegal narcotics.

However , it all depends on how much cheap energy wil extract from the arctic or somewhere else. We have to keep this thing running for another 15-30 years so all the above can happen....

What an interesting post, I can't quite tell whether you're being sarcastic or not

[NotMyBlood]

i was being sarcastic, although I dont rule out that scenario. Not in the least!!!! I think its conceivable. Ive always thought that the human race was "just getting started".

There will be Dark Ages, Middle Ages and Ages of Enlightenment.

i have to admit though, the doomer scenarios have a better case. Facts, Figures, Data to support their predictions.

All I have is faith. okay some historical argument, but not as much as the dark side.

I think the next 20 years are going to be incredibly interesting. A time of transition. Most likely of biblical proporations. History books we spend extra chapters on this era.:):): And were lucky enough to be alive during this period....

[PeakingAroundtheCorner]

Anchorage Daily News Government and industry geologists have long known there are oil and gas deposits in the continental shelf off the Beaufort and Chukchi sea coasts of Alaska. There have been discoveries, in fact, though they were not financially feasible at the time. Oil and gas have also been found in the Canadian Beaufort Sea, in Arctic Russia and off Norway.

There is a growing belief that the Arctic might hold the world's largest remaining undiscovered oil and gas deposits, though the technological and economic challenges are daunting. Industry is interested. Shell Oil, for example, is very bullish about the Arctic. -snip-

We didn't know about this previously because of the inaccessibility of the Arctic -- all that ice. Now, as the ice melts, there's a scramble by all the Arctic nations to do more research to lay claims to valuable resources. -snip-

In other words, there should be oil there and we'll get it out of there somehow. Meanwhile, Global Warming will help us gain access to it.

[Starvid]

Nothing bad comes without any good...

Or as Americans say it: silver lining.

[Gazzatrone]

Those "technological and economic challenges", strike me as being key to any exploitation. Aren't we already struggling to reap fuel that is at the point at which it becomes economically unfeasible to retrieve?

[Blacksmith]

No ice means you can transport oil and gas by ship and avoid and over land route which means land settlements, payments and environmental studies. Of course on the plus side there will be a challenge to Canada soverenty by the US.

[FireJack]

Where are these studies that found all this oil in the arctic? Have any real tests been done or is it a lot of wishful thinking.

[xarkz]

Where are these studies that found all this oil in the arctic? Have any real tests been done or is it a lot of wishful thinking.

yes exactly. The keyword here seems to be "There is a growing belief ..".
And even if "the world largest remaining oil deposit" is in the Arctic
that doesnt neccecarily mean it is actually large.

[Jester]

I love stories with "may hold", "Belief", and "undiscovered".

How can I count on something undiscovered?

In other news, many Americans are hoping to use "undiscovered" money to pay their mortgages.

[Blacksmith]

Thats why is called exploration. In the 70's they had a program which while it found lots of natural gas and to some lesser extent oil, did not find the breakover numbers to justify a pipeline.

[Graeme]

Global warming opens Arctic seabed to the search for oil and gas

Large, discovered oil and natural gas reserves totaling 233 billion barrels of oil or its equivalent can be found in the Arctic Basin, according to a recent study by two British consulting firms, Wood McKenzie and Fugro Robertson, "with potential additional resources estimated at 166 billion barrels of oil equivalent."

The study, "The Future of the Arctic," found that natural gas accounted for 80 percent of all available reserves, and that 69 percent of it belonged to Russia.

The study focused on areas within defined jurisdictions, primarily on the continental shelf, said David Parkinson, an upstream consultant at Wood Mackenzie.

Most of what the study found is exploitable. "The technology is there" he said. There is also speculation that additional reserves may exist farther out at sea.

IHT

[yull]

So they haven't actually found anything, they are just saying all this oil "can" be found? And "potential" additional reserves may exist? Where did they get these numbers from?

[KevO]

Sooooooo that means they can get all this Oil and then burn it and shrink the ice some more?

which would work coz when the East Coast of the US , Holland. London and most of India is under water, there will be enough oil for


err

China and Russia