610 MPH @ 35K FEET ABOVE THE PACIFIC

A Return From Down Under With A Renewed Sense of Urgency

I am currently hurtling 610 mph 35,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean, somewhere between American Samoa and Kiribati.  North America is on the horizon after spending three weeks trekking through the wilds of New Zealand in search of hidden treasure and wasting away on several of the most spectacular beaches Australia has to offer.  It was a trip mixing work with pleasure.  And one that has left me filled with a new sense of urgency; an urgency to get the message out before it’s too late.  The global Resource War is real, and the West is in real danger of losing it unless we return to basics.

Both New Zealand and Australia were built into two of the leading nations on earth by exploiting their natural resources.  New Zealand was powered to prosperity via a huge gold rush in the mid to late 1800’s, while Australia has been a powerhouse exporter of iron ore, coal, aluminum and now LNG for multiple generations. 

Gladstone, Australia at night. This is the country’s primary coal and LNG port.

However, like most nations in the West, both are in the midst of massive political and socio-economic campaigns that, at their heart, seek to end responsible natural resource development in the name of “saving the environment.”  In it’s place some sort of utopian society will undoubtedly emerge…or at least that’s the assumed result.  Will human beings be able to flourish in this progressive heaven?  The question is never asked.   

Anecdotally, my experiences, particularly in Australia, were a bit jarring.  It felt many are locked in an echo chamber, oblivious to reality.

Just a few moments after climbing back aboard a dive boat off the grid in a remote area of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef the dive master proceeded to harangue me and my fellow divers on the evils of fossil fuels and the necessity of “walking instead of using a car.”  Then he demanded we not stop at “the little things,” but “divest of fossil fuel companies” in our personal portfolios.  Of course, the dual outboard motors pushing out a combined 500 horsepower affixed to the back of the dive boat that made his job possible that day never came up.

A tiny beach at a remote island in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

His resort, undoubtedly one of the most beautiful spots on the planet – albeit a bit rustic - went out of their way to show off their solar power system.  On a huge monitor prominently setup in the reception area real-time power generation stats flickered across the screen.  But I was surprised as I took time to analyze the data.  The four batteries of solar panels were generating roughly 40 kilowatt hours of electricity…and the diesel generator?  240+.  Hmmmm.

Upon leaving the small remote island resort aboard a large, impressive catamaran powered by – you guessed it – a couple of diesel engines, I struck up a conversation with two members of the crew.  They said the plan is to add air conditioning throughout the resort soon, but they’re already maxed out with the generators they are using now.  And solar only goes so far.

Not long after the discussion turned to the higher-than-normal temperatures, reportedly 2 degrees hotter than normal, that are heating some of the waters surrounding the reefs.  Man-made climate change, it was explained earnestly to me, was behind it all.  And all that coal moving from the port of Gladstone, Australia – our destination – the likely culprit.

While in New Zealand I learned the country’s only oil refinery was closed in 2022 under Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s left-leaning government.  Today the country is 100% dependent upon imports of fuels – ranging from diesel and regular petrol to jet fuel from other nations.  In the event of a hot war or a natural disaster, New Zealand would quickly be brought to its knees. 

The inner harbor in Auckland, New Zealand.

Potentially even worse, the dean of New Zealand’s broadcast journalism corps Leighton Smith told me the fuel line supplying Auckland’s airport with jet fuel was also destroyed by the Ardern government, all in the name of climate change.  Shades of Germany’s decision to close down their nuclear reactors and import electricity from France – electricity produced in French nuclear reactors.

Not all is lost, however.  New Zealand’s government recently changed, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern resigned and is now ensconced as a professor at Harvard.  The country’s new resource minister is a man named Shane Jones.  In a barn burner of a speech, he announced a complete reversal in government policy, one that would fast-track mining, energy and infrastructure with the goal to “boost productivity and resilience for New Zealand.”  And he’s set to follow through, with legislation pending. Watch it all…the good stuff begins at 5 minutes in:

The truth is the world needs resources.  Human flourishing is impossible without the base metals and energy required to build our modern way of life.  Any planetary crises we face as a race I am confident we can overcome, the same way those who came before us did.  But eliminating pipelines, refineries, coal ports and the like, all in the name of climate change, is a ticket to poverty…and as anyone who has spent any time in the poorest places on earth like I have can attest, poverty is far worse a curse than that which I’m confident human ingenuity will overcome.

So, keep your eyes on this space, as I’ll be releasing a film within the next couple of weeks that will illustrate the opportunity the new attitude in New Zealand is offering to investors.

Until then…