Newswise — As British Petroleum struggles to contain its environmental disaster in the Gulf, Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs Professor Rafael Reuveny said the "drill here, drill now" motto by Sarah Palin is shortsighted and destructive.
"While this is a popular strategy among Republicans, Tea Partiers, and Blue Dog Democrats, it is a terrible policy," Reuveny said. "It risks the health of America's environment and, even more so, the global ecosystem."
Offshore drilling is growing costlier and more dangerous as easier means of resource extraction are exhausted. "We don't even know how to solve the current problem in the Gulf. Offshore drilling pushes our technology and safety measures to the limit," he said. "The more we drill offshore and the deeper the sea bed is, the higher the risk of these catastrophes. It is a simple game of probability."
Instead of weaning the planet off fossil fuels, the United States is escalating its dependence and ensuring accelerated global warming, he claimed.
"Climate change increases the frequency and intensity of weather disasters such as storms, floods and droughts. As a result, these disasters have reduced foreign trade and investments and promoted waves of environmental refugees from poor, affected countries," said Reuveny, whose research focuses on political conflict and its interaction with international trade, democracy, migration and the environment. "In Arizona, the arrival of migrants has led to civil strife. In other cases, it has led to outright violence."
As the United States continues to increase its carbon emissions, the rest of the world must wonder why they should cap theirs, said Reuveny. "In the bigger scheme, President Obama's executive order to continue offshore drilling brings all of us closer to the brink of social collapse due to severe environmental decline, which has occurred many times throughout history."
A better strategy, Reuveny said, is to preserve the oil as an insurance plan for the future. "Leaving our oil in the ground is like an underwater bank with an outstanding interest rate as oil becomes increasingly scarce and its price rises," he said. "In the meantime, we must invest in new technology and alternative energy sources. These are the ways to maintain our status as world leader. We will only self-destruct if we continue on this irrational course."
Reuveny is the author of "Complex Transformations: Democracy and Economic Openness in an Interconnected System" (Cambridge University Press, 2009). He is co-author of "Climatic Natural Disasters, Political Risk, and International Trade" (Global Environmental Change, 2010), and the author of "Exploring the Link between Climate Change and Migration" (Human Ecology, 2008), and "Climate Change Induced Migration and Violent Conflict" (Political Geography, 2007).
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