Dig, Baby, Dig

The idiocy of "drill, baby, drill" was evident to anyone with a functioning synapse: it would have led to marginal production of extra oil at the cost of considerable environmental damage. Alas, the EU seems not to have got the memo:

Natural areas protected under EU law could be opened for mining as part of efforts to curb Europe's growing dependence on third-country imports of precious minerals and metals, the European Commission announced yesterday (4 November).

"This is the beginning of a natural resources strategy," EU Enterprise Commissioner Günter Verheugen told journalists during the presentation of a new 'integrated strategy' for raw materials.

Well, if it is "the beginning of a natural resources strategy", it is also the end of any serious environmental strategy. What is needed is more recycling and more efficient use of resources and materials that we already have, not a constant search for new places to dig up to meet our unbridled industrial hunger.