Well, so much for scientific research in Antarctica…it’s about to be a war zone.

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[–] 69 points 11 months ago (1 child)

Born too late to die in war over oil, born too early to die in war over oil, born just in time to die in war over oil.

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  • [–] 60 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    https://www.worldometers.info/oil/

    There are 1.65 trillion barrels of proven oil reserves in the world as of 2016.

    So another extra 30% or so.

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  • [–] 119 points 11 months ago (11 children)

    The year is 2070. Common daily temps are between 35-45°C. Only 200k humans survive globally, and barely.

    They still use fossil fuels to generate electricity...

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  • [–] 59 points 11 months ago

    A truce has been reached between the forces of AE-X11 Musk and the virtual consciousness of Jeff Bezos as they vow to unite against the tribal council of the former Russian Federation to secure the remaining oil reserves in the desert plains of the Antarctic continent

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  • [–] 12 points 11 months ago*

    Human population now being only 0.00025% of its peak, their greenhouse gas emissions are now insignificant, so, the planet is now finally recovering, fast.

    Edit : obviously I'm not a writer.

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  • [–] 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    daily temps are between 35-45°C

    Not in Russia. :D

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  • [+] 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)
  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 child)

    Maybe, but look at that territory, it's perfectly positioned to unlock more agriculutural land northward as the world further south burns. I bet the Russian ruling class is eagerly awaiting this scenario that would put them towards the top of the pile in world powers. They may end up in a position to pick and choose from waves of immigrants.

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago

    Problem is that it isn't that simple. The general fact we do know is that the atmosphere will be more energetic and, on average, the globe will be hotter. The more energetic facet means more weather activity and changes to various currents. So local weather may be more impacted by a change in wind current temperature wise. The change in storm activity may be the bigger concern rather than temperatures. We don't know how much viable agriculture will be possible or exactly where it will be. Also there's the question of soil quality. It's a dangerous gambit to assume a straightforward "Lots of snowy land now means lots of agriculture in a warmed globe".

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  • [–] 45 points 11 months ago* (15 children)

    For comparison, Venezuela has the world's largest oil reserve at 303 billion barrels.

    Winter is coming.

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  • [–] 43 points 11 months ago* (5 children)

    Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserve

    Is THAT why we have an aircraft carrier off the coast?

    They've got oil and they're NOT sharing it with rich people?

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  • [–] 9 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    I mean to be fair they just don't have the infrastructure to extract it anymore. Economic sanctions since the Obama years have mean that the equipment to extract crude has become hard to maintain.

    A graph showing the steep decline of venezuelan oil production since the US economic sanctions

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    So, because they can't use it, we should take it?

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  • [–] 8 points 11 months ago*

    No. But they aren't refusing to sell it. They just don't have it. And are under various sanctions by the US, EU and most south American countries over human rights abuse so they probably couldn't sell oil anyway.

    Actually it's kinda ironic that Venezuela is under sanctions for human rights abuse but not the Gulf states.

    Oh and I wasn't actually trying to go anywhere with my comment but I do realize how it sounds now. But I am not in favor of invading anyone

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  • [–] 5 points 11 months ago (3 children)

    This could be a good thing for venezuelan fishermen.

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  • [–] 3 points 11 months ago* (2 children)

    I read somewhere that a large amount of the refining capacity in America is geared towards dilbit like the one that used to come from Venezuela and now from Canada. Perhaps Venezuelan fishermen's oil is still cheaper in the end and therefore more desirable.

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  • [–] 43 points 11 months ago (3 children)

    It's almost poetic. The oil got there because there was once vegetation on Antarctica, that decayed over the eons. Now the thirst for oil will lead to heating the planet enough to melt the ice again.

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  • [–] 39 points 11 months ago

    Who put the barrels there!!!

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  • [–] 37 points 11 months ago (5 children)

    It's amazing how we always find ways to speedrun our downfall.

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  • [–] 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    Hey what is this we? Don't bring me into this. It's always the same few assholes at the top doing it all

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  • [–] 154 points 11 months ago (4 children)
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    [–] 31 points 11 months ago

    FFS lets move on from trying to suck every last drop of oil out of the earth's crust.

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  • [–] 31 points 11 months ago* (2 children)

    More to the point, what will the consequences be of that much carbon being repatriated into the atmosphere? I hear that Siberia has had some awfully hot, miserable summers recently. It’s likely not going to go over well with the climate problems Russia is having.

    Hmmmm.

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  • [–] 10 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    The consequences aren't a secret. Look up the Planetary Solvency actuarial report from earlier this year, for starters.

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  • [–] 28 points 11 months ago

    Oh for fucks sake.

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  • [–] 26 points 11 months ago (3 children)

    Trump's about to liberate Antarta... Aunt Tart... Antitartica... the place where the polar bears live!

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  • [–] 9 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    Fun fact, though you may have known. Arctic basically means "of the bear" because of the northern position of Ursa Major (bear constellation, also the Big Dipper). Antarctic means "not of the bear". Because of how words work, it's also Arctic = "north" and Antarctic = "anti-north".

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  • [–] 24 points 11 months ago (10 children)

    Just for context, the US uses around 7 billion barrels per year. Can keep the SUVs going for the better part of a century.

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  • [–] 5 points 11 months ago (9 children)

    Assholes can roll coal for a century.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago (8 children)

    What's weird is that Gale Banks, one of the godfathers of turbocharging and a huge name in diesel performance, is adamant that rolling coal is stupid. Especially in modern engines with lightening fast fuel control systems... more forgivable in older diesels with mechanical injection systems. But he says it's money and horsepower literally blowing out your exhaust, being a internal combustion engine enthusiast myself I don't understand wanting to leave performance blowing away in the wind; that's YOUR unburnt diesel blowing away! In THIS economy!

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago (7 children)

    No matter the advances, the Otto cycle will always be 25% efficient, at most.

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  • [–] 0 points 11 months ago (6 children)

    Last I heard modern gas engines have reached a smidge over 30% thermal efficiency because the pure Otto cycle hasn't been used in decades. Mazda(?) recently announced an engine over 40% efficiency using an Atkinson design I think. Superchargers and more Turbochargers boost efficiency more by recycling waste energy.

    But I'm not sure any of that matters because diesels aren't Otto Cycle.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago (5 children)

    diesels aren’t Otto Cycle.

    Are they not four-stroke?

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago (4 children)

    All Otto cycle are 4-stroke but not all 4-stroke are Otto cycle.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago (3 children)

    Such as Wankels, ok, just replace "Otto cycle" with 4-stroke in my original comment.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago (2 children)

    Then your original comment is still wrong, because diesel engines are significantly more thermally efficient than 25%. Even modern gas engines tend to beat your 25% claim.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago (1 child)

    I guess we're not on the same page on what a four-stroke engine is, as only one "stroke" of four is doing actual mechanical work.

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  • [–] 40 points 11 months ago (6 children)

    Ffs, just fuck off, Russia.

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  • [–] 4 points 11 months ago (5 children)

    Hate to break it to you but Russia isn't the only member of the petroleum industry.

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  • [–] 8 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    But Russia is the one doing oil prospecting while masking it as seismic research which obviously skirts the intent of the Antarctic Treaty, which other countries actually do honor

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  • [–] 15 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    Yeah, but this is about Russia, Mr. Whatabout.

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  • [–] 5 points 11 months ago* (1 child)

    Because no one else would touch those reserves except Russia? It is moot anyway because it is in the UK claimed region. Sorry it isn't as simple as you'd like it to be.

    https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/no-the-russians-havent-found-oil-reserves-in-antarctica

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  • [–] 15 points 11 months ago

    Hmm sounds like a good reason to have the ice all melt and speed up us dependency on it - USA 2026 probably

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  • [–] 30 points 11 months ago (9 children)
  • [–] 15 points 11 months ago (6 children)

    We have been cooked for a while. I don’t think there’s anything after well-done, except burnt.

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  • [–] 10 points 11 months ago

    So, they were looking

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  • [–] 9 points 11 months ago

    This title legit made me wanna not wake up tomorrow 😭

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  • [–] 8 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    Just in time for it to not matter as oil demand declines and renewable energy takes over.

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  • [–] 6 points 11 months ago

    Solar is moving so fast, no way this will be economically feasible to draw up. Leave it in the ground!!

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  • [–] 10 points 11 months ago

    Any chance the capitalists will just leave it in the ground? No? I didn't think so.

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  • [–] 3 points 11 months ago
    [–] 3 points 11 months ago

    In before we deliberately start melting antarctic ice to more easily access oil deposits

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  • [–] 3 points 11 months ago

    Wasn't this in news cycles back in July? I feel like I'm going crazy here.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago

    What’s oil?

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