A Solution for Many Problems
The other day I was watching a program from the Science Channel called "What If The Oil Runs Out." It was a fictional scenario of a worldwide energy crisis in 2016 and the effects on a fictional family in Minneapolis. It also included commentary by various experts on the possibility of such a scenario. While we have not endured a real energy crisis since the 1970's, that does not mean that one is not on the horizon especially with most experts believing that we have reached the peak of oil production.
Unfortunately, I do not think the United States is taking the issue as seriously as other countries in the world. President Bush says we are addicted to oil but fails to tell us that he and his oil company and Saudi friends are the "pushers." I hope the next Congress and certainly the next President see the real need for a comprehensive energy policy that will either drastically reduce or eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. If the U.S. government committed itself to a Mercury/Apollo or Manhattan type project for energy, it is hard for me to believe that we would not come up with many feasible long term solutions. It may not happen overnight but I do not think it will take that long. It was less than a decade between President's Kennedy's speech committing this country to a space program and the Apollo 11 mission landing on the moon.
I do not think we are going to get one magic bullet that completely replaces oil. However, many things put together can remedy the current situation. It will be a combination of biofuels, windpower, solar power, geothermal power, tidal power, and other alternative energy sources. It will require changes in industries, changes in people's thinking and changes in our lifestyles. However, a real comprehensive energy policy will help the economy, mitigate the possibility of a global warming doomsday scenario, and could totally change U.S. foreign policy in the Mideast. Do you really think we would be in Iraq if there was not oil there? And I would really like to see the day when we can tell the Saudis to fill their swimming pools with oil because we do not need it.
I also do not want to hear naysayers or NIMBY people complain about a spoiled view or a bird crashing into a windmill. Would you rather have the polar ice caps melting and Americans dying in even greater numbers in future wars about oil? I am all for protecting wildlife but there has to be a limit. I am quite sure that a few birds got caught off guard and crashed into the first skyscrapers. But they may have been the dumb ones anyway and it probably did not take long for the others to avoid that mistake.
Unfortunately, I do not think the United States is taking the issue as seriously as other countries in the world. President Bush says we are addicted to oil but fails to tell us that he and his oil company and Saudi friends are the "pushers." I hope the next Congress and certainly the next President see the real need for a comprehensive energy policy that will either drastically reduce or eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. If the U.S. government committed itself to a Mercury/Apollo or Manhattan type project for energy, it is hard for me to believe that we would not come up with many feasible long term solutions. It may not happen overnight but I do not think it will take that long. It was less than a decade between President's Kennedy's speech committing this country to a space program and the Apollo 11 mission landing on the moon.
I do not think we are going to get one magic bullet that completely replaces oil. However, many things put together can remedy the current situation. It will be a combination of biofuels, windpower, solar power, geothermal power, tidal power, and other alternative energy sources. It will require changes in industries, changes in people's thinking and changes in our lifestyles. However, a real comprehensive energy policy will help the economy, mitigate the possibility of a global warming doomsday scenario, and could totally change U.S. foreign policy in the Mideast. Do you really think we would be in Iraq if there was not oil there? And I would really like to see the day when we can tell the Saudis to fill their swimming pools with oil because we do not need it.
I also do not want to hear naysayers or NIMBY people complain about a spoiled view or a bird crashing into a windmill. Would you rather have the polar ice caps melting and Americans dying in even greater numbers in future wars about oil? I am all for protecting wildlife but there has to be a limit. I am quite sure that a few birds got caught off guard and crashed into the first skyscrapers. But they may have been the dumb ones anyway and it probably did not take long for the others to avoid that mistake.
posted by dbf729 at 7:39 PM
1 Comments:
I remember the oil crisis of the 70s. I remember getting up at 5:30am so that I could be at the pump on my appointed day with two little children in tow. That was over 30 years ago. Can you just for a moment imagine where we would be right now if the government started a real push to alternate fuels at that time? The entire world would be a different place. It didn't happen then and now with this government of pumped up egos, incompetence and long standing ties to the Saudis, I don't see it happening now. I believe the only solution will come from a ground swell of grassroots uproar and a new government. Count me in.
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