F O S S I L F U E L & W A R
END FOSSIL FUEL - END WAR
Author Stephen Fitzgerald
1st September 2024
The struggle over energy resources has been a conspicuous factor in many conflicts, including the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988, the Gulf War of 1990-1991, and the Sudanese Civil War of 1983-2005. More recently, control of oil and gas are the drivers of wars and conflict in Gaza, Ukraine, Yemen, Venezuela and pending for the South China Sea. If we burn all the fossil fuel we are fighting over we accelerate the destruction of our global life support system. Fighting for something that will destroy us is nothing short of collective insanity. We can stop the wars and protect our planet by removing the demand for fossil fuels but first we need public awareness.
People need to be informed of the real reason for global conflict. The reason for the destruction of entire countries, the reason for the murder of millions of innocent civilians including women and children. I know it’s confronting but, in light of the urgency, people need to be shaken awake to fast track our transition to renewables and awareness of the key driver of war is the catalyst to do that. Click the map to enlarge.
Gaza
How Gazan natural gas became the epicenter of an international power struggle. All the current wars, uprisings, and other conflicts in the Middle East are connected by a single thread, which is also a threat: these conflicts are part of an increasingly frenzied competition to find, extract, and market fossil fuels whose future consumption is guaranteed to lead to a set of cataclysmic environmental crises.. Read More
Ukraine
The reason for the Russian invasion and war in Ukraine can be best described as follows:- Ukraine’s oil and gas sector has significant potential, but the country faces several challenges in developing its energy resources. Ukraine could become a major player in the global energy market, reduce its dependence on Russian gas and compete with Russia's primary export. Read More
South China Sea
The South China Sea is one of the most prolific hydrocarbon regions of the world, rivalling the Persian Gulf or any other comparable region. However, a slew of issues including, but not limited to, strategic, political, economic and administrative paradigms thwart gas and oil extraction for now. Military confrontation and all out war for control of these massive resources is building as I write this article. Read More
Yemen
The Yemen oil war has lead to the starvation death of more than 1 million civilians mainly children. The oil fields of Shabwa have become the new battleground. The battle moves to the oil-rich provinces of Marib and Shabwa with its highly prized oil fields. The coastal province in Yemen’s south has moved center-stage in the ongoing war to exploit fossil fuel resources in recent times. Read More
Venezuela
The Rise and Fall of a Petrostate - With 7.8 million refugees driven from their homes and country, Venezuela’s ongoing descent into economic and political chaos is a cautionary tale of the dangerous influence that fossil fuel resource can have on developing countries. Read More
Iran - Iraq
The 1990 Gulf war was largely a conflict about oil. The issues which provided Iraq with the pretext for its invasion of Kuwait were oil pricing policies and oil revenues. The United States and its allies moved quickly to protect there own and OECD countries’ access to oil supplies. Read More
Sudan
The large-scale exploitation of oil by foreign companies operating in southern Sudan has increased human rights abuses there and has exacerbated the long-running conflict, resulting in two million people dying and four million displaced since 1983, as well as recurring famine and epidemics. Read More
CONCLUSION:
The human cost of these oil & gas wars, and proxy wars, is staggering beyond belief but will pale into insignificance compared to the forcing of extreme weather events, the catastrophic damage to the natural world and the wide reaching impact on greater humanity if we burn all the fossil fuel these wars are about.
Up until now real action to curb climate change has failed. We are hovering on +1.5C and CO2 emissions continue to rise! It's time for shock treatment to drive the changes needed to save the future for our children and beyond.
Please take the time to digest this information and pass it on. With knowledge comes the power to drive change and if our leaders are inclined to continue fighting for and burning fossil fuels then they should not be leaders.