i, ° picture a kind of Big Bang in reverse. SKEENA ANGLER ROB BROWN’ An oily business "ast year the hydrocarbon: behenioths ré- ia - corded the highest profits in their history, gas, keep the G8 V-8 humming. » The oily corporations need to grow, because growth i is good in a world where rich countries are open for business and poor ones are open for ex- ‘| Ploitation. = If all the celebrants at this profitability party put . down their drinks, party horns, and: rose-coloured glasses and swapped their party hats with thinking caps, it might occur to them that the windfall profits for Exxon, Shell et. al. are symptomatic of a prob- - - lem so immense and intractable we'can only begin to imagine its nightmarish proportions. Reach out from where you sit and you will be’ able to touch half a dozen things (like this keyboard . I’m tapping away on and this screen I’m looking at) . that are born of hydrocarbon. The light you are reading this by, as well as the warmth, that keeps you in comfort as you read are - both indebted to hydrocarbon. Hospitals, sewage systems, water supplies, food, just about everything that uses energy is dependant on fossil fuels. The problem is fossil fuels are exhaustible. The ‘Le oil- companies know this inescapable fact’ better . o than anyone. Being multinational entities with more power than most countries — as well as the enthusiastic support of the most powerful country on the planet ~ they could have embarked on a conservative path, reducing consumption and using some of their bil- lions to aggressively create and promote green in- dustries. This would be the sane course of action in terms of long-term profits and especially considering that global warming is a fact, and that man’s consump- tion of fossil fuels is acknowledged by everyone except those creating PR for oil. conglomerates and . human ostriches, as the big reason for its rapid ac- - .celeration. Instead, BIG OIL has chosen to pursue the. oy earth’s remaining reserves aggressively, playing fast-and loose with the future of mankind in a quest to squeeze every last drop of profit from the exist- ing infrastructure before being forced to switch to “more environmentally sensitive practices. When people think of. planetary collapse, most It’s now becoming apparent that the arrival: of _ Armageddon is incremental. Permafrost turns to impermafrost. Trees in the’ boreal forest start turn- ing red. Glaciers and ice sheets retreat like routed" armies. There are forest fires in the Amazon. Algae . vanishes from vast areas of the Great Barrier Reef. Hurricanes hammer coastlines with record break- ing ferocity. Drought and the availability of water . become pressing issues. ; His artificial systems begin to groan as man ‘scrambles to shoulder the enormous financial costs of increasingly numerous meteorological disasters. An inflationary spiral caused by rapidly dwin- - dling fuel reserves leads to a global energy crisis and financial collapse that will make the Great — Depression look like a time of prosperity and The _ Book of Revelation a fairy tale. “Think globally, act locally” said René Dubos, advisor to the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, back in 1972. It was sage ad- vice that has gone largely unheeded. We only need to heed the first part of his direc- . tive to realize that we’re racing down the centre line of the hydrocarbon expressway in a hummer, and . "it’s an asphalt road to oblivion. We need to pull over at the next rest stop and head back in the other direction. To do anything else is to play brinkmanship with forces of nature, to inch closer to the tipping point. Having thought long and hard about what's up - ' with the globe, I take a local look. Mayor Wozney of Kitimat, evincing callous unconcern for every other British Columbian likely to be adversely af- fected by it, thinks a twin oil line would be just peachy for Kitimat — good for business. » Instead of pushing for a royal commission to investigate the whole idea of an oil highway pro- posed to run from the largest single emitter of green house gases in North America tthrough Northern Alberta, across hundreds. of streams and rugged _ mountainscapes in Northern B.C. then finally to Kitimat, where it will be serviced by tankers that have cruised along our coastline, local politicians are talking of where the corridor should be and how it could entrain other pipelines. Give me strength. Next week: Fish oil beating out the second place pharmaceuti- * cal giants by a huge margin. Those pack-' ing oil shares in their portfolios were jubilant, not . . only because they’d just become richer, but because — . fossil fuels keep the pistons of the economic global ‘engine pumping — fossil fuels, in particular oil and 4 TERRACE STANDARD The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 25, 2006 - B5 a Ride for the cure | "CAITLIN. LEBLANC, 8, and. Henny Marinus. were among the 49 people who - oe completed a-10 km ride Oct. 14 hosted by Out Spoke’N Bike and Sport to _raise money for breast cancer. Shop owner Lucy. Praught, who also partici- pated, said the cyclists raised $1, 125. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO # al soccer © 1 shuts out ‘competition CALEDONIA SENIOR boys soccer team is ready to tackle - ‘the zone*playdowns and_provincials after shutting: out the ‘competition at its first tournament of the season in Williams ‘Lake Oct. 12 and ‘132 The boys shut out their hosts 2-0, Quesnel 4-0, dropped Bella Coola 6-1 and 100 Mile House 9-0 to make it to the final against Westsyde from Kamloops. - Cal continued its winning way with a.6- 0 shutout and _ brought home the trophy.” - - Inthe five games over two days, the team racked up. 28 * - goals for and only one*goal against. - : ; Ten teams played at the Williams Lake/Cohimneetza In. , vitational Boys’ Soccer tournament for high school teams. Duncan Stewart, who coaches the team along with Bill’ ‘Redpath and Dave Bartley, praised’ the team’s effort and “conduct. © “would say we ‘probably had the best sportsmanship out of the other teams,” said Stewart. - “We were just strong and they . were definitely weaker teams than us. “We were really impressed by the team’s effort. They got © better with every game and that was the key, they played as" a team, not individuals. The Key to our strength i is to keep . building on that.” The best part was that even against weaker teams, Cal. didn’t let its game deteriorate. _... »Often when going against a weaker team, players will - drop down to that level but Cal kept its level of play high. - Stewart expressed confidence in the team’s ability to win . the zone playdowns and advance to provincials, noting that -most of the players have been together ; asa squad since hey were 1 1-years-old. _ The Caledonia ‘team consists of 12 boys from Grade 12, ’ four from Grade 11 and two from Grade 10. _ The zone playdowns are in Smithers October 28 and 29: . The winner advances to the B.C. AA.High School Soccer” Provincial Championships, a 16-team’ tournament in Bura- - _ by. November 20 to. 22. ‘ a 638-7283 a a up costs. Nass Valley. . » Village Government. New A YOUTH soccer league i in Greenville has been awarded a grant to help cover its start- The Laxgalts’ap Recreation Program re- ceived $5,000 from the Bell Community Sport Fund, a national community sports funding program, to support the launch of a micro-soccer. league for children in the The league, geared to boys and girls aged 12 and under, has attracted more than 50 players since its inception in August... Almost all players are first-timers and games. are non-competitive. “The ultimate goal of the program is participation, ” said Mike Davis, youth and - recreation coordinator for the Laxgalts'a ap “We chose micro-soccer because we had fewer players on the pitch which meant more involvement from the players. “By reducing the numbers, players. get more touches and therefore more chances. por od Greenville soccer Teagu receives grant for start-up costs. to shoot, dribble and score. This. gives play-. ers more chances to be successful which means there will be a good opportunity for was the players to continue playing.” The money used for league start-up — costs, including a coubment of scores...We just let “Micro-soccer the children enjoy features _ three the exper ence, players on the’ -Mike Davis. ence,” field per team for ages six and under and four. players on .the’ field plus a goalkeeper for ages eight and under, said Davis. “We don’t keep any scores or. anything. We just let the children enjoy the experi- *he said. The hope is to expand to Kincolith, ‘Can- “We don’t keep. TSS tre tae est peagth fe yon City and New Aiyansh to have fron 80 to 100 children participating. Right now the ‘50 players consists of equal numbers of girls and boys. | The money also helped to pay for coaching certification. through the Na- © tional Coaching | Certification Program : (NCCP). ’ Davis said three coaches were certified this year and the Plan i is to certify eight to. © 10 next year. The certification means ; the coaches will : have more soccer knowledge. : Bell Canada, in partnership with the» True Sport Foundation, awarded 12°Bell:— Community Sport: Fund phase I grants to. [°° communities in British Columbia to help _improve access to community hockey and “ soccer programs. . Applications were evaluated: based on their level of inclusion, good ‘governance. “| ’ and the potential number of participants af-- J fected. , aan | ye a need e Ge Lacrosse to welcome new players ” and expanded league next season | By MARGARET SPEIRS IN PREPARATION for next season, the Terrace Minor Lacrosse Association will use a recently awarded government grant to buy “equipment for those who couldn’t otherwise afford to play. The association received: $11,520, the amount it asked for, from the Gaming | Branch of the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General. Shelley Anderson, : presi- . dent of Terrace Minor La- crosse, said the equipment will enable 20-youth to play who otherwise couldn’t. The equipment will be ‘loaned out next season and returned at the end of the season for use again the next year. The lacrosse association is also making plans for ex- pansion: — The hope is to organize a ‘Junior B team for 17- to 21- year-old men and a provin- cial girls’ team this year. If the turnout is -high - enough, there may bea girls’ - house league too. Anderson ‘said the asso- ciation had planned to ap- ply to host the provincials |} in 2007. but even though |. ground breaking for the new sportsplex is due to begin in. [x a couple of weeks, any set- | backs during its construc- tion could. mean the arena wouldn’t be ready in time. - Instead, the association ‘will apply to host the la- crosse provincials in 2008. ' “We just had to postpone - our plans,” Anderson said. Eventually the. sport is expected to expand to field lacrosse once the association talks with the soccer assaci- ation to secure field time. “We want to expand and make it a viable sum- mer sport, not to compete with soccer but to work THANKS to a government grant, young people eager to play lacrosse, but:who - can’t afford the equipment, will be able to join up and: borrow equipment from the: . minor lacrosse association next year. oe FILE PHOTO with soccer,” “she said, adding many young ath- letes play both lacrosse US ? and soccer. The minor lacrosse sea- son begins next year about moved from the floor the arena. _ a week after the ice is re-_ of on px re ee > th pee be ee ee