The PCTC Blog

What Will it Take to Give Up Our Oil Addiction?

What will it take to make us get serious as a nation about switching from oil to clean, renewable energy sources? How much of our environment so we have to completely ruin, and how many people have to die before we figure out that what we’re doing is simply killing us?

Even if the terrible ecological disaster caused by BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico wasn’t the unmitigated catastrophe it will probably turn out to be be over time, the reality is, the same scenario is pretty much guaranteed to happen again and again. Why do we continue with the same behaviors that keep leading us to disaster after disaster? Why do we keep doing this to ourselves?

Why do Americans think things will just get better over time, when they’re only destined to get worse? Why do we always wait for "someone else" to take the reins and fix problems? As you are seeing over the last few weeks, oil companies will use any excuse to jack up prices, and they will do it over and over again, because they can.  if they can jack prices up 50 cents a gallon when there is no shortage (and there isn't one, folks -- there is no serious danger to oil supplies in any of the countries currently experiencing change in the Middle East.), imagine what they will be able to do when there is a shortage. 

We Have Met the Enemy: Look at BP, Then in the Mirror

We have met the enemy... and he is us...  -- Walt Kelly/Pogo, from a poster for the first Earth Day 1970

A lot of people won't like this but that's just too bad. The truth is hard. 

Okay, so yesterday, I’m listening to one of my favorite podcasts. It’s kind of a “guy talk” program, and they’re usually very funny. Yesterday, they decided to go off on Obama and his alleged inaction on the oil spill that is happening in the Gulf of Mexico. This is not normally a political program, and when they start talking politics, I usually tune out, but this time, I didn’t skip past. The attacks on Obama were unfair, as if he could become Aquaman, swim down to the hole and plug it up himself.  But they weren't distributing BS on a Fox News level, so I resisted the urge to write them a scolding email and continued to listen. 

The political talk stopped pretty quickly, as it always does. But then they started talking about cars. You know, another guy topic. And my jaw dropped. The host lamented his choice of a Toyota, because it just “wasn’t him.” All them drooled over the concept of “muscle cars” and were desirous of a car that could go from 0-60 really fast. Now, to their credit, they did say they didn’t care how the car was powered; they would be just as happy with a hybrid or an electric car that did the same. They were just interested in a car could make them feel more like “men” because they could go really fast. But then the host began to practically drool over the feeling he got when he drove a car with a V-8 engine.

I just shook my head and laughed. Talk about clueless. THAT is why BP spilled oil in the first place. 

Look, folks; it’s easy to blame Obama, Bush, Cheney and BP for the oil spill that is destroying the Gulf of Mexico, but if you want to know the real culprit on this, look in the mirror. WE are the reason millions of barrels of oil have gushed into the ocean. Every time you see a pelican or dolphin covered with oil and dying miserably, blame yourself. Yeah, I said YOU. 

Come On President Obama -- Show Some Leadership!

I think we have the best president in office than we could have possibly hoped for in many ways. But I have to part ways with him when it comes to his approach to the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. We need singular leadership on this, and his Administration is simply dropping the ball, big time.

Look, folks; maybe I’m a dreamer, but it seems to me that when it became clear that BP and the Coast Guard are in over their heads, the government has no choice but to step into the void and work to fix the problem. I know that concept irks people like Rand Paul, but this is why you have government in the first place. I don’t know what the solution is, and neither do any of you. But I know what the solution is not, and that is to allow BP to run around like Moe, Larry and Curly trying to fix the plumbing.  I might have been okay with two weeks of this, but for Chrissakes, folks, this hole has been gushing over a month now; it’s obvious that BP, Transocean and the Coast Guard don’t know how to fix this, which means Obama should have been on the phone with everyone he can think of with even the smallest bit of expertise, to put their heads together and come up with a way to stop the flow of oil.

If this was above ground, the answer is rather simple; you actually create a small explosion, and allow the hole to fall in on itself and plug the leak. That may or may not work here; I don’t know the physics in play a mile below the surface of the ocean. I don’t know whether that could make it worse.  But that’s why you gather together everyone smarter than you, to come up with a solution. We need a solution.

It's Time to Change Our Energy Mindset; Green Will Bring in the Green

One of the key aspects of the current stimulus package that is exciting is its investment in new energy production, that is more attuned to the needs of the average person and the planet, than anything we've seen before. It reflects a new reality, and it's about time.

 

The way we've designed our lives has necessitated the use of energy to fuel every aspect of  them. We have to heat and cool our homes, we have to travel and move goods around the country and around the world, and we depend greatly on electrical energy these days, to the point that electrical energy must be plentiful and dependable.  In other words, most of the world has chosen not to live like the Amish. Whether or not that is a wise choice is a matter of debate, but we are what we are.

 

One thing is not debatable, however. No matter how we as humans choose to live our lives, we still need the world around us in order to function. Therefore, we must balance our production and use f energy with the need for clean air, wholesome, nutritious food and a clean and plentiful supply of water. And as everything in nature works in harmony, we have to figure out a way to produce what we need, while disturbing as little of the natural world as possible. It doesn't matter if you "believe" in global warming or not, nor does it doesn't matter how many jobs, companies and countries are "dependent" on the extraction of fossil fuels for their economies. What I am talking about is the survival of the human race, and the planet as a whole.

 

Okay, that last part probably overstated things just a bit. We won't kill the planet; this planet is pretty resilient, and will probably survive whatever we can do to it. But the survival of the human species depends greatly upon the health of the planet. So, how do we reserve as many of the technological gains we have made in recent generations, and still preserve the natural worlld, so that we survive?

If we want to increase the chances of human survival, -- and we do -- and preserve the planet we love, then we have to change our approach to energy production. Production of energy must involve two concepts; first, we must stop using natural resources as if they belong to humans alone;. The world belongs to every plant and animal species here, as well. Therefore, we have to be more careful when extracting resources, and we must stop burning things to supply us with energy.

 

We must solve this energy crisis. But first, we have to recognize that there is a crisis. The fact is, we have been in an energy crisis since we first realized that we could burn oil and gas to make light. and run machinery. But the crisis has been most acute in the last 40 years, and it will not end until we create most of our energy naturally, without burning natural resources, and to make maximum use of every bit of energy we produce.They keys are natural energy production and conservation.