Time to wake up...
We need to come out of our collective dream state that has led us all to believe that unlimited economic growth will propel us into a future where new technologies and wishes will prevent the coming collapse of our economy or worse our society. Our governments, talking heads and corporate overlords are more than content to take full advantage of our collective ignorance, which renders each and every one of us complicit in the faciliation of the eventual crisis that will come to fruition in the coming decade...
While the corporate figureheads and government naysayers collude in backroom deals, make record profits, and marginalize the rights of the Individual, We the People sit idly by and allow ourselves to be buried in debt and manipulated by lies that the coming shortages in energy supplies are not real and that anyone that speaks up and demands a course change is a fringe lunatic. It is not uncommon these days for one person to drive an SUV to a grocery store to purchase a piece of fruit that has traveled 2000 miles, a piece of fruit that could have been grown in an orchard within walking distance, or in a community/neighborhood garden...
After the energy crisis of the 1970's, there was a brief course change in the US culture which resulted in more efficient motor vehicles, utilization of nuclear power and pursuit of more environmentally friendly sources of energy. The awareness of that era was eroded when, during the 1980's new deposits of oil were found that were readily accessible to US oil interests, enabling production of cheaper oil and again, the populace was lulled into ignorance, swayed by cheap fuel, a growing economy and relative prosperity for the middle class...
The corporate oil interests were quite happy to feed the cultures lust for cheap goods, providing them huge profits for investment in their favorite market, politics... (http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.asp?Ind=E01)
Their friends in the national government were happy to take the campaign contributions in turn for Oil friendly policies espoused through out the better part of the last 3 Presidential administrations... The Feds also has been reluctant to impose stricter fuel economy standards on vehicles . A series of policies that were devised to protect the inept management of the Big 3 auto makers from themselves, for without this policy these companies, and their astounding lack of vision and inspiration would have been bankrupt in the early part of the 1970's.
Over the coming decade global demand for oil will be increasing as India and China continue their conversion to an industrial status, couple this with what will most likely be diminished oil production from all of the major producers, we need to become aware that our entire society is on the brink of a new age, and what that new age will be is still hanging in the balance. We must, locally, regionally and nationally begin to make difficult choices. Choices between the convenience of staying the course, hoping for a miracle, discovery of a new source of fuel or a technology that solves the energy question or making a bold course change. We must invest in technologies that will improve the efficiency of automobiles (http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/v38_1_05/article05.shtml), choices that require auto manufacturers to increase fuel efficiency, not just on small vehicles but on trucks and vans. Tax credits that incent businesses and homes to convert to renewable sources of energy such as solar power to reduce the burden on the system as a whole.
With smart choices now, we might, just might be able to buy ourselves enough time to develop additional technology to leverage renewable sources of energy for our benefit, the benefit of our society, our children and their children. If we continue to minimize the voice of those calling for change and innovation, if we continue to allow the small minded members of Congress to ignore the fact that there is indeed an impending energy crisis of global proportions so that they may continue to suck public funds and ensure they are padded from the shockwaves that would surely result, we have no one to blame but ourselves...
While the corporate figureheads and government naysayers collude in backroom deals, make record profits, and marginalize the rights of the Individual, We the People sit idly by and allow ourselves to be buried in debt and manipulated by lies that the coming shortages in energy supplies are not real and that anyone that speaks up and demands a course change is a fringe lunatic. It is not uncommon these days for one person to drive an SUV to a grocery store to purchase a piece of fruit that has traveled 2000 miles, a piece of fruit that could have been grown in an orchard within walking distance, or in a community/neighborhood garden...
After the energy crisis of the 1970's, there was a brief course change in the US culture which resulted in more efficient motor vehicles, utilization of nuclear power and pursuit of more environmentally friendly sources of energy. The awareness of that era was eroded when, during the 1980's new deposits of oil were found that were readily accessible to US oil interests, enabling production of cheaper oil and again, the populace was lulled into ignorance, swayed by cheap fuel, a growing economy and relative prosperity for the middle class...
The corporate oil interests were quite happy to feed the cultures lust for cheap goods, providing them huge profits for investment in their favorite market, politics... (http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.asp?Ind=E01)
Their friends in the national government were happy to take the campaign contributions in turn for Oil friendly policies espoused through out the better part of the last 3 Presidential administrations... The Feds also has been reluctant to impose stricter fuel economy standards on vehicles . A series of policies that were devised to protect the inept management of the Big 3 auto makers from themselves, for without this policy these companies, and their astounding lack of vision and inspiration would have been bankrupt in the early part of the 1970's.
Over the coming decade global demand for oil will be increasing as India and China continue their conversion to an industrial status, couple this with what will most likely be diminished oil production from all of the major producers, we need to become aware that our entire society is on the brink of a new age, and what that new age will be is still hanging in the balance. We must, locally, regionally and nationally begin to make difficult choices. Choices between the convenience of staying the course, hoping for a miracle, discovery of a new source of fuel or a technology that solves the energy question or making a bold course change. We must invest in technologies that will improve the efficiency of automobiles (http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/v38_1_05/article05.shtml), choices that require auto manufacturers to increase fuel efficiency, not just on small vehicles but on trucks and vans. Tax credits that incent businesses and homes to convert to renewable sources of energy such as solar power to reduce the burden on the system as a whole.
With smart choices now, we might, just might be able to buy ourselves enough time to develop additional technology to leverage renewable sources of energy for our benefit, the benefit of our society, our children and their children. If we continue to minimize the voice of those calling for change and innovation, if we continue to allow the small minded members of Congress to ignore the fact that there is indeed an impending energy crisis of global proportions so that they may continue to suck public funds and ensure they are padded from the shockwaves that would surely result, we have no one to blame but ourselves...
posted by Eliot Rosewater at 8:52 PM
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