Word: vast
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...human and physical damage is daunting enough. Hundreds of people have been killed, villages razed, bridges buckled and blown up, railways cut. Days after the cease-fire was agreed, the Russian army was still destroying military and civilian targets; the Georgian government accused it of inexplicably setting fire to vast tracts of woodland. In South Ossetia, the looting and deliberate destruction of ethnic Georgian villages mean that the two populations - Georgian and Ossetian - will not any time soon live side by side, as they had for centuries...
...McCain had listened hard, he could have heard environmentalists and Democrats grinding their teeth in opposition. As McCain repeats his drilling mantra, critics point out that there is far too little untapped oil in American waters to make a significant difference in gas prices, especially considering the vast and growing global demand for petrol. Besides, "drilling now," as McCain says, won't yield results for years, and offshore exploration still has serious environmental risks. (That last point was underscored by the timing of McCain's visit - his rig trip was delayed because of a hurricane and oil spill...
Duprey points out that the arguments used by proponents of offshore drilling can also be used to support aggressive investment in alternatives. "We have this vast untapped renewable energy reserves, just like oil and gas," he says, referring to the rich wind resources of the Midwest and the solar potential of the Southwest. "We just need to build the transmission lines to move that energy out." Think of it that way, and suddenly alternatives don't seem like a far-off solution based on science fiction, but a resource that exists today, if it can be tapped - just like offshore...
Whatever that means for offshore drilling in the U.S., the real victims of the global thirst for petroleum will be overseas - areas that, until the recent price rise, were too remote and forbidding to be worth drilling. Case in point: the vast, impenetrable western reaches of the Amazon. Touching parts of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Columbia and Brazil, the western Amazon has remained relatively unscathed compared to the eastern stretches of the rainforest, which have been ravaged by logging. With few roads, the western Amazon has remained so undisturbed that there are still new indigenous tribes living somewhere inside the jungle...
...American country passing up the potential revenue in favor of keeping the Amazon pristine. It's also a reminder that, as we fight over a little offshore drilling in the U.S., rising energy prices will impact far more vulnerable ecosystems overseas, from the Amazon in South America to the vast Arctic stretches of Siberia. For now, the best we might be able to expect - until alternative fuels make oil and gas unnecessary - is adherence to the best safety standards for new exploration. After all, keeping the oil and gas in the ground may be better for the environment...