What is Russia’s problem?

A teacher’s convention session on the infamous Tar Sands of Northern Alberta, and subsequent discussions with my Uncle has got me thinking more about the things that are happening up North. Surely, it is the engine of my province’s economy. Surely, even my job is at least partially dependent on it. Surely, our provincial government could be showing some vision by using the tremendous wealth to spur a change in the way we take care of the environment, develop sustainable energy sources, heal the social ills that the fractured communities of the oil patch have fostered, and remember to take care of a liquid even more precious than oil – water.

According to the government of Alberta:

• 37 million cubic meters of fresh water was used in deep oil wells and will not be recovered – it is no longer part of the water cycle because it’s below the water table in 2001 (I couldn’t find more recent info)
• Thankfully, the government points out, this is only as much water as passes through the North Saskatchewan River in two days, or only 7.5% of the Oldman River Reservoir. Oh, so we’re only losing that much water PERMANENTLY??
• According to the governments figures and my calculations, this is also the same amount of water that 30,000  homes that are not connected to a municipal water system are guaranteed to have access to in one year.
• So we’re permanently losing as much water PER YEAR, as 30,000 Alberta homes require?

Alberta has an incredible amount of fresh water. Agriculture uses an incredible 46% of all of the water used in Alberta. While this is a huge amount of water (as compared to Oil’s 5%), agriculture’s usage is recoverable, because it does not leave the water cycle.

Water and steam injection systems pump water so far below the surface of the earth, that it is below the levels of groundwater, and for all intense and purposes, lost to the water cycle.

I suppose some good news, is that in 1977 we were actually pumping twice as much under ground. Yikes…

Update: Whoa! I was on Canadian Association of Petroleum Producer’s site, and they claim that  ’our use of fresh water per barrel of oil produced decreased significantly – 16.67 per cent from 2006 to 2007.’

Yep, just got tickets tonight. June 23 can’t come soon enough!

Obama told reporters in the White House Rose Garden that he wasn’t sure he had done enough to earn the award, or deserved to be in the company of the “transformative figures” who had won it before him.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Apparently the judging committee overlooked my sticky note on anti-bullying. Too bad, I could use the million bucks more than Obama.

I’m embarrassed to say I found this quotation on People.com, but it is a good one.

It’s Kevin Padian speaking, a professor of paleontology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Berkeley. “The two kinds people who believe that religion and evolution can not coexist are extreme atheists and extreme religious fundamentalists. Everyone else doesn’t really have a problem. [A majority] of Americans believe that a belief in god is compatible with evolution.”

Incredibly, he’s speaking in rebuttal to Kirk Cameron, teen heart throb, B(Christian) movie star and staunch anti-Darwinist. Makes for an interesting conversation.

Do you ever have the feeling that you just might be the glue that is holding the collective Multiverse together? I used to think that it was possible that everyone on Earth was together on some ‘in joke’ that I wasn’t aware of – and that was pre-Matrix. Now I think that there is a slight chance that all of history may have been just the world’s effort to produce me : super-universe-glue.

Here’s what’s been happening for the last three days while I’ve been out of the reach of email, Internet, Facebook and the news (And man, if only I could have extended that break).

US May Face ‘Armageddon’ If China, Japan Don’t Buy Debt

Zazi indicted for conspiracy to detonate WMD’s on New York transit system.

World pushing for new currency

I’ll do my best to set things right…

Israel maintains that despite Russian Prime Minister Medvedev’s assurances, Israel will remain in charge of it’s own foreign policy.

Interestingly, they choose to remain concerned over Iran’s President Ahmadinejab’s threats to the Zionists, and not be consoled by his promises to the UN and the rest of the world that they only are refining uranium for the purposes of energy production.

Russia, the perennial wannabe superpower, continues to throw out loosely veiled threats and promises towards and in defence of her potential allies/enemies. China and Venezuela fit into the former category. New reactors, weapons and energy deals are in the works for South America.

Obama backed out of the missile defense shield Bush promised to NATO allies in Eastern Europe, a system of weapons that would bring a snooping nose close to Russia’s borders and probably usher in a new age cold war. Russia claimed that it was a good move for American/Russian politics, but many nations published headlines decrying the weak kneed  backtracking by the Americans, and disappointed a number of countries counting on the safety net.

Now Iran stands to benefit from some new anti-aircraft missiles that Russia claims will help ’stabilize’ the middle east. Medvedev states that Israel proactively attacking Iran in an attempt to prevent nuclear capabilities would be, “the worst thing that can be imagined.”

Apparently, Medvedev knows that won’t happen, “But my Israeli colleagues told me that they were not planning to act in this way and I trust them.”

What’s going on in this part of the world. It seems both the US and Russia continue to act out their game of Risk with their strategic alliances within the Mid-East. Russia, interestingly seems to be allying themselves with the Muslim nations, (if providing anti-aircraft weaponry counts as allying – and let’s face it – it does) and the US has always been on the side of the Israelis. Concerning for peace in the Holy Land lately, is the fact that Obama’s ties to the area seem to be fraying, whether that’s intentional or not, it’s concerning.

Because let’s face it, if nobody is helping to offset the balance of power in the world, Israel just might have to stand up for themselves.

Check out the video that a current student posted on YouTube. He’s currently taking Social Studies 9 from me, and he clearly gets the whole government thing.