Protest Germanys support for tar sands

[auroraglacialis]

Avaaz - Germany: stop Tar Sands today!

It seems that Germany is blocking a Europe-wide legislation that would basically ban the import of oil from tar sands.

In 24 hours, Europe could pass a directive that would introduce strict pollution controls and stop the flow of deadly tar sands oil into the EU. But Germany is blocking this crucial law -- now only we can save it.

Tar sands oil destroys forests, lakes, and emits 25% more carbon pollution than other oil. But for Canada it is a money making bonanza, and the government and big oil companies are ferociously lobbying Europe to open the flood gates to this black gold. Right now Germany is close to caving, but if we can pressure Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen to put people and the planet before oil profits, we can win!

The Fuel Quality Directive vote is on a knife's edge and it all comes down to us. We only have 24 hours to take action -- let's send a flood of messages now urging our government to be green champions. Click below to send a message and forward this to everyone:

Avaaz - Germany: stop Tar Sands today!

Tar sands fuel could not be any more destructive -- Canada has cleared millions of acres of pristine forests and displaced indigenous communities to extract it, all the while emitting cancerous heavy metals and sulphur to refine the dirty oil. It’s so filthy that even the US doesn’t want it -- their Environmental Protection Agency says refining tar sands causes 82% more carbon pollution than regular oil, and President Obama just halted plans for a cross-border pipeline.

Now Canada and the oil companies are looking for new markets to reap the fruits of their $379 billion tar sand investment. The EU’s proposed Fuel Quality Directive would set a binding 6% climate pollution reduction target for Europe’s transport fuels by 2020. But Canada wants the EU to ignore tar sands emissions -- hoping if they can slip it into Europe others are likely to do the same. The UK, France, Italy and Spain are doing dirty deals with Canada while Germany is on the fence.

Europe's global environmental leadership is on the line and our climate ambitions are shockingly being undermined by Canada, who has withdrawn from the Kyoto Protocol! Norbert Röttgen will join a European Commission vote in 24 hours -- let's show him that German voters expect him to stop tar sand pollution and vote for strong controls. Take action now and send this to everyone!

[Marvellous Chester]

Done and done, I'm happy to see the EU doing something sensible for once

[Human No More]

Signed.

Germany probably need the oil to ease their impending energy shortage, I guess.

[Moco Loco]

Wow, there are almost enough signers already

[Tsyal Makto]

Done.

[Aquaplant]

I'm not sure if I'm unfashionably late and whatnot, but signed anyhow.

[txim_asawl]

No. 47,381 is me...

~*Txim Asawl*~

[applejuice]

The only effective way to make something change is through some politician, sadly. Petitions are just nothing if not backed by someone who is the politics game.

[txim_asawl]

Well, since the recipient of the petitioners' mails is Norbert Röttgen, the federal German minister of environmental affairs, it will at least create some attention, I guess.

And the online movement can be strong, too. Think about the appeal against the data preservation of internet user data, which was tried to be put into effect by the European Union... the federal German constitutional appeals court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) put that European law out of effect for its non-conformance to the German constitution... I was part of more than 34,000 people filing that appeal... we even got honored with a Hitler comparison by the former federal head of our State Department, our resident Dr. Strangelove, Wolfgang Schäuble (currently our Secretary of Treasury), who said "We used to have the greatest general of all times, now we have the greatest constitutional appeals case of all times..." - his attempt to mock the people who are afraid of state and government overlords controlling every move was as futile as it was tasteless. Even comparing protesters to the "Größter Feldherr aller Zeiten" did not disarm or ridicule the appeal enough to make the federal jury deny it.

We have a voice, and it is heard, too.

Wiggling bare toes,

~*Txim Asawl*~

[applejuice]

That will certainly make the difference. Fortunately for you, public opinion weighs a lot when a decision is to be taken. Not the case here, public opinion matters nothing, everything reduces to the will of the president, sadly.

[Isard]

Isn't importing from nationalized sources closer to the EU less expensive?


The Middle East is right next door...

[txim_asawl]

Well, the offshore capacities are decreasing, so, of course, getting the mmost out of investing the least is just plain old-school capitalist thinking. And the machine fueled by this is still running... it gives off a few ugly sounds every now and then, and sometimes it feels like a pop of the clutch (woops! Was that Greece we hit?) but it's still running...

Of course, searching for alternatives is a nasty cost factor and not in the still dominant "Winnings! Not wasting money! That's our focus!" mindset. Thinking has to change to make those folks realize, that it's our own life they're endangering by plundering the resources. During the last cold spell, Germany was short of a blackout, since brokers at the power stock exchange ("Strombörse") on falling prices, not buying the energy their customers (heavy industry, aluminum smelters and mills, for instance) needed... the grid had to be powered with backup energy and was short of a critical undersupply... bnrokers at banks are speculating on food prices rising... great for their winnings, utterlý bad luck for those poor wretches who can't affor food at the new, raised prices...

Talking about food, that whole system has way expired its best-before-end date... it already stinks and needs to be disposed of...
(Hello, Agents... what seems to be the problem....?)


Wiggling bare toes, getting in revolution mood...

~*Txim Asawl*~

[auroraglacialis]

yeah that was so stupid - there was actually enough energy, but they did not power up the plants when demand was rising because some people wanted to make some easy money.

Why Europe is buying tar sands oil? Well I guess its because peak oil is upon us and the near east (middle east for the US) is getting into conflicts...

[Human No More]

...and because Germany is reducing their generation capacity in the middle of an oil crisis.

[txim_asawl]

Quoted from Peak oil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Despite the large quantities of oil available in non-conventional sources, Matthew Simmons argues that limitations on production prevent them from becoming an effective substitute for conventional crude oil. Simmons states that "these are high energy intensity projects that can never reach high volumes" to offset significant losses from other sources.[82] Another study claims that even under highly optimistic assumptions, "Canada's oil sands will not prevent peak oil," although production could reach 5,000,000 bbl/d (790,000 m3/d) by 2030 in a "crash program" development effort.[83]

Moreover, oil extracted from these sources typically contains contaminants such as sulfur and heavy metals that are energy-intensive to extract and can leave tailings - ponds containing hydrocarbon sludge - in some cases.[71][84] The same applies to much of the Middle East's undeveloped conventional oil reserves, much of which is heavy, viscous, and contaminated with sulfur and metals to the point of being unusable.[85] However, recent high oil prices make these sources more financially appealing."

Of the so-called unconventional sources, oil sands have a portion of 30 per cent...

Oh, and about Germany taking the throttle down in oil production: the German output is the smallest share in the North Sea oil area. I wouldn't guess that this influences the whole world.

Wiggling bare toes,

~*Txim Asawl*~