If a man is shot in the leg, the chances are his femoral artery will be clipped. One might have a number of both helpful and unhelpful reactions to witnessing this; applying a tourniquet, administering pain medication, or contacting paramedics would all be acceptable. What would be neither useful nor in any way allowable, however, would be the application of a simple band-aid.

KAPSARC, the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center, is an amazing place. With 45 ongoing projects, more than 88 published journal articles, and 1100 openly accessible databases maintained online, the three pronged research taxonomy has done well to serve the oil and petroleum industries. Through the development of umbrella-esque initiatives, under which projects fall and are supported by sub-subordinate studies, KAPSARC is focused on answering large questions about energy economics, technologies, market diversification, and a host of relevant, fascinating issues.

Unfortunately, this is effort ill spent. In regards to our hypothetical gunshot patient; applying a band aid and dusting off your hands has two ill effects: it wastes valuable time and resources in addressing the actual problem, and it lulls the attending personnel into a false sense of security, of achievement.

KAPSARC has a vast array of capital – human, political, and monetary – to wield in service of the petrol-industrial complex. To the detriment of all, the philosophy at KAPSARC can be summed up in the answer to one of our delegation’s questions; in response to “What is the plan when Saudi Arabia runs out of oil? Will the market be diversified enough to recover?” the staff simply laughed, claiming that oil could be extracted in an environmentally friendly way from nearly unlimited sources. The only downside, they argued, was the financial cost.

This is patently, demonstrably false. A multitude of sources have concluded that the use of oil to generate energy or create petrochemical compounds – by far the two most common uses – cannot have a net-zero impact on the environment, regardless of the clean procurement. Additionally, the inherent costs to transporting and refining crude oil ensure that the solutions presented by KAPSARC won’t make economic sense forever. Compared to solar, wind, or nuclear power, oil will continue to become less and less economical – attracting less investment and currying less political favor.

Ultimately, KAPSARC is a holdover from a time not unfamiliar to the United States. What had worked will continue to work – social inertia ingrains that irrational belief deeply into our conscious and subconscious actions. KAPSARC’s research is a shiny, high-tech band-aid over a very real gunshot wound. The resources dedicated to mitigating an extremely harmful effect would be better spent developing technologies with an already-lower impact. Furthermore, it perpetuates the appeal-to-tradition false idea that oil is king, lulling unscientific politicians into believing that perpetual use of oil can have no consequences – if only the research is done.

Eventually, the band-aid is swept away by the unrelenting torrent – but by then, it is too late for anything to be done – Earth, the patient, is lost.

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Jackson Dyal is a third year political science and international affairs student with a concentration in conflict and security. He is currently studying at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. Jackson is currently working as an Executive Intern at the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. Jackson’s visit to Saudi was motivated by a desire to further understand the nuances of the culture and the differences in security challenges faced by Saudi and the US.