First oil

Are any readers becoming tired of the relentless badgering of the public being waged by the PC (politically correct) crowd, who insist that everything must now be done with climate change in mind? While all you regular folks were being productive, the PC elite were busy weaving hundreds of “green” thoughts into the 2016 Olympics, held last month in Rio de Janeiro.

Yes, the PC elite were on a mission to make this Olympics the most green-conscious ever. They convinced Olympic organizers to set this goal, and in the early days of this two-week event, seemed to have accomplished their goal. The opening ceremony featured the threat posed by global warming and rising ocean levels in a video narrated by actress Judi Dench. And then there was an announcement of an “Athletes Forest,” whereby one tree seed would be planted in Rio’s Olympic Park for each of the more than 10,000 athletes participating in the Rio games.

The PC elite also pointed out that up to 85% of Brazil’s electricity is generated with renewable energy (mostly hydropower). And a plan was hatched to “offset” the Rio Olympics’ 3.6-MMton carbon footprint via a 2-MMton partnership with Dow Chemical, with the remaining 1.6 MMtons to be handled by the Rio de Janeiro state government.

Ah, but parts of Brazil have been plagued with drought of late, thus the hydropower supply has been reduced. Therefore, the Rio Olympics had to bring in dozens of temporary generators, which—gasp—run on diesel, a.k.a. hydrocarbons. And in the London Olympics four years ago, one of the dirty little secrets was that nearly 400 generators had to be brought in to power the Games—the horror, the horror!

But beyond this, let us not forget that athletes from outside Brazil had to fly in on—yes—commercial airliners, which run on jet fuel, which is—hydrocarbons. And let us also remember those dozens of patrol boats and small yachts trailing and monitoring those aquatic Olympians paddling their kayaks and rowing their team boats in Rio’s coastal waters. Those vessels were fueled by diesel, which is—hydrocarbons. So, just remember: Without hydrocarbons, there would be no Olympics.

A presidential candidate’s carbon footprint. Well, here we go again—another case of “do as I say, and not as I do,” except this situation involves a major U.S. presidential candidate. Just for fun, let’s play a little game and see if you can guess who the candidate is, just from the facts without naming names. Back on Aug. 19, this candidate spent the night in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., celebrating the birthday of a close relative, along with numerous close friends. The next morning, the candidate awoke and was driven to the landing strip on this wealthy people’s island. Upon arrival at said local airport, this candidate proceeded to board a private jet for—gasp—a demanding, 20-mile flight to nearby Nantucket Island, so tight and crowded was the poor, beleaguered candidate’s schedule.

Upon arrival at Nantucket, this candidate attended an “absolutely fab” fundraiser hosted by a well-known, old-money family, which graciously kept the per-person price tag for admittance down to a mere $100,000. How thoughtful of them! And said candidate was eternally grateful, not only for the campaign funds raised, but also for being spared the agony of traveling on a peasant form of transportation and enduring an hour-and-a-half ferry ride.

So, a couple of conclusions come to mind from this wasteful, expensive exercise: 1) This must be a sign that the entire climate change problem has been solved, and we can all sleep more peacefully at night with the air conditioning set at 68°F; and 2) Just how incredibly big must this presidential candidate’s carbon footprint be, after flying just 20 miles, yet burning up gallons upon gallons of jet fuel, just to take off and land.

Oh, that’s right—this exercise was merely a warm-up and practice for the real thing, when said candidate becomes President and proceeds to waste thousands of gallons of jet fuel, on a regular basis, to conduct family vacations and shopping trips. 

About the Authors

Kurt Abraham

World Oil

Kurt Abraham kurt.abraham@worldoil.com