jani_oil_on_ice

I am annotating Oil on Ice movie which is directed by Bo Boudart, and Dale Djerassi and released in 2004. This movie is a counter propaganda to the oil lobby, and presents arguments about why one should not drill in Arctic National Wildlife Reserves, which is a significant source of oil. This movie presents local Eskimos and Alaskan politicians who are against drilling on ideological and cultural grounds. Finally, movie suggests to abandon drilling completely everywhere in the world and wants to rely on the solar cells and wind mills. As usual, there are two sides of this issue and every side has a few key stake holders. One side of the issue, that supports oil drilling in Alaska, have Oil companies, Alaskan residents, native Alaskan Eskimos, and American citizens in general who want to prosper and live a happy life. On the other side, we have environmentalists as stake holders who want to stop global warming and start deindustrialization. Alaska earns 80% of its state revenue from its oil production, and they have created a state fund from the oil revenues that makes annual payments to the Alaskan residents. Moreover, a large number of Alaskan citizens are employed in the oil industry, if oil industry is gone, employment is also gone at the same time and so do state taxes. Alaska cannot survive without oil. This creates permanent dependency on the oil. Alaskan dependence on oil has created one oil disaster that still has environmental impact in Prince William Sound. This accident permanently affected Herring Fish population. This movie does not show how herring fish is doing today. This is the only adverse effect of oil drilling the movie has shown so far. This movie shows long description about how local population depends on the Caribou herds for their survival. However, movie does not provide any concrete evidence about how local oil drilling will decrease caribou population. No animal population has been endangered by oil drilling anywhere in arctic. I have no idea how a few dozen drilling sites five acres each will destroy caribou herding pattern. This has happened nowhere in any oil drilling sites including Alaska, Russia, and Norway. A lady at 25:10 says that oil industry will use a lot of water and it will disrupt fish and bird habitat. She does not mention how. This movie like many other environmental movies, takes many things granted. The movie at 28:00 mentions that Inupiate Eskimos have benefited from oil drilling, but they still need subsistence hunting to survive. As I can see, they have survived very well so far. The movie does not show whether subsistence hunting is just a hobby or they really need hunting to survive. The movie at 35:00 asks that if oil drilling is permitted and after a few years, if the region runs out of oil, what will they live on? I ask why they cannot live on the caribou hunting as they always used to live on. The movie has a range of misinformation that I do not agree with. This movie has usual global warming argument. This time I am giving a list of five books that debunk global warming hysteria. Just check the bibliography. Moreover, the UN report for global environmental destruction predicted in 2005 that there will be 50 million climate refugees by 2010. This prediction has come out to be completely false, and as of today, the total number of climate refugees remains zero (Weinberg, 2011). The movie at 42:00 says, “We are addicted to oil. When you are addicted to drugs you are told to cut off the supply, but when you are addicted to oil, you are told to increase the supply.” A similar statement was made by Pres. Bush. I do not agree with this statement. The oil is not an addiction; it is just a natural resource. It is a resource like iron ore, bauxite, and uranium. We are just using that resource to make our life better. If director does not want to use any of those resources, he can live a life of a caveman or live in Indian slums. However, nobody including Al Gore, wants to live like that. Other people have to live in small houses, and cut down their consumption, but those “activists” have to fly around in private jets to save the world. The movie says that because of global warming, weather will “change a lot”. Weather has always been changing. These “activists” make claims that do not require proving them anything and still attribute everything to global warming. This movie shows melting glaciers. The director does not seem to be aware of the fact that glaciers recede in the summer and advance in the winter. Movie at 45:20 suggests that Alaskan oil has been exported to Asia in past. What is wrong with exporting oil? OPEC nations survive on exporting oil. I do not understand thinking of some Americans who believe that they only have to import from the world and export nothing back to them. The most ignorant argument I found in this movie is the bio fuel cars. The author suggested that we should burn alcohol in the car made from the corn. I have looked further sources and found that these bio fuels have been a disaster for both economy and poor people. Corn prices have more than doubled in last three years. This starves poor people. Of course, starving poor people do not mean anything to those who want to save the world from global warming. Ethanol requires 38% more energy to produce than it delivers (Morris, 1995). This means that bio fuel is an impossible fuel. I have found only one argument convincing that drilling in ANWR will not affect prices significantly, because ANWR oil production is not significant compared to global oil production. =Bibliography = Carter, R. (2010). //Climate: the counter consensus.// Stacey International. Montford, A. (2010). //The hockey stick Illusion.// Stacey Intl. Morris, D. L. (1995, August). How Much Energy Does It Take to Make a Gallon of Ethanol? Institute for Local-Self Reliance. Mosher, S. (2010). //Climategate: The crutape letters.// CreateSpace. Spenser, R. (2010). //The great global warming blunder.// Encounter books. sussman, B. (2010). //Climategate: A veteran meteorogist exposes the global warming scam.// WND Books. Weinberg, B. (2011, April 21). //Still no 50 million climate refugees.// Retrieved from ww4report.com: http://www.ww4report.com/node/9803
 * Meghal Jani Oil On Ice 4/26/11 **