Monday, April 25, 2011

Dark Clouds Over the Indian Ocean

More dark clouds over the Indian Ocean. How naive of us to be concerned a few weeks ago with a plan to dump mine tailings in the Indian Ocean, when there are much larger and more ominous forces at work.

According to a new book, Monsoon, the future fight among global powers that be will happen in and around the Indian Ocean.

"What does all this have to do with the environment? The answer is that the contest for supremacy is all about the control of fossil fuels, minerals, and other natural resources, and the infrastructure to import and export them -- which means things like oil and gas pipelines, deepwater ports, and big navies to protect critical shipping lanes. You can say much the same thing about many of the conflicts of the past, of course, and extractive industries have always wreaked havoc on the environment,"  said George Black in Onearth Magazine.

Read George's piece here.

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