Happily Ever After

Not so long ago, in the far North, there once was a beautiful little country. For a long time, this country had been terribly poor, until it one day happened upon troves of buried oil and gas along its coast. The people rejoiced and from then on, the little country grew ever richer by selling its fossil fuels to the world.

However, as time went by and ever more fossil fuels were excavated from the sea, burning the gas and oil across the world made the temperature rise and unprecedented heatwaves, terrifying storms and widespread drought followed. Across the globe crops failed, people went hungry and millions of plant and animal species went extinct, but the little country wanted more.

Thus, the little country looked to the Barents Sea in the vulnerable and rapidly warming Arctic, and found it contained rich resources yet to be tapped, along with yet more fortunes to be made. Emboldened by the success of operating nearly a hundred oil and gas fields, the little country named its northernmost field in the Barents Sea Wisting after a polar explorer who had been the first to brave the elements and reach both the North and South Pole.

And thus it stands to this day, with plans for drilling the Wisting fields underway. If we live happily ever after, we will need more than a life rafter.