Did you happen to catch the PBS documentary Extreme Oil? The 3 part piece investigates the extreme lengths the oil industry has to go find ever more elusive sources of petroleum. It's frightening. If ever you wanted politicians to take up the flag of alternative fuels, now is the time.

Last night I saw Episode Two, called "The Oil Curse", which detailed, amongst other things, how Texaco's drilling for oil in the Amazon region of Ecuador has polluted the countryside, destroyed the lives and livelihood of indigenous people and raised cancer rates to absurd levels.

The people of Ecuador are fighting back with a multli-billion law suit that will, thanks to a recent ruling in the US courts, be enforceable in the United States. Who knows whether or not they will win. The case has already been delayed for 10 years by (now) Chevron Texaco’s legal team.

According to the documentary, the case has already affected the way major oil companies do business. Hopefully a favorable ruling will move them even further in the direction of environmental protection. However any decision in the case could be years off, not to mention the possibility of appeals.

Episode Three, "The Wilderness" is about drilling in Alaska and Canada and should prove to be equally depressing.