Gem of the day

So apparently in the context of offshore drilling and mining--basically in the major extractive industries overall--forest and natural terrain is referred to as 'overburden'. Yep--a burden on the industry, because it makes the resources harder to get to.

I've been thinking about what it must be like to work on an extremely risky, dangerous venture like an offshore drilling rig, recently. Or even a mine. Or one of the impossibly alienating E.ON coal-fired power stations. This infrastructure is all a relic of rapid industrialisation, designed without humans in mind. In fact, not just designed without them in mind, but specifically with the philosophy that losing a human life, or destroying the planet's natural resources, are both small prices to pay for energy that can fuel human progress.

Well, all I can say is, here's to the next generation of energy.