Isn't anybody listening?
Automobile drivers, you are testing my patience. So are you, oil companies. And especially you, Mr. President.
Oil prices hit $67 per barrel today. That's a record high, says the BBC. "US refinery stoppages have come just as car sales and demand hit highs, and amid persistant security fears." We complain about high gas prices, then we go out and buy new Hummer H3s. We drive a half mile to the store and back because it's convenient. We Americans are spoiled to the core when it comes to transportation, and the answer to the problem is staring us right in the face.
We must adapt to survive.
In a world whose crude oil supply is rapidly diminishing, we simply cannot afford to keep consuming oil at our current rate. I'm not talking about the greenhouse effect, global warming, or the possibility of inadvertently starting a new ice age. I'm speaking more directly toward the possibility of a collapse of the U.S. economy. If the end of the world doesn't seem to bother you narrow-minded SUV drivers, maybe the end of your precious country will. The environment aside, the economy of the United States depends so heavily on oil, that without it, we are left to our own demise. If we don't start seriously altering our fuel consumption to renewable resources, we're going to be out of luck. Why? Imagine this: As gas prices continue to climb, fewer and fewer people will be able to afford to drive. This scenario leads (in our current political climate) to the destruction of the American Empire. If we don't start accepting the cost of alternative fuels now, we'll be up a creek without a paddle, so to speak, in 20 years or so.
Automobile companies are continuing to produce cars with horrendously low mileage rates, and we continue to buy them. Sure there are hybrids available, but sales of hybrid cars are no match for the old fashioned gas-guzzler. Even then, a hybrid car is still a hybrid - you need gasoline to power it. What I'm encouraging is a total reconstruction, a rebuilding of the American economy based on more eco-friendly and renewable resources.
The situation is grave
We are backing ourselves into a corner by continuing to rely on oil to power our imperial war machine. We are using outdated, oil consuming technology that will no longer be compatible with future technology once oil production begins to seriously slide. What happens when we can't afford to run our old machines anymore? Our cars will end up in scrap heaps, tankers will sit in dry dock, planes will be grounded. I dare not use the term, "screeching halt," but if we don't do anything about this crisis soon, that's the direction we're headed.
A good comparison for the oil industry is the internet and communications sector. During the 1980's, US phone companies spent billions of dollars hardwiring this country. They laid telephone wires everywhere they could to more completely network the country. Since then, the technology has shifted to high speed broadband wireless, rendering telephone wires and many cable lines obsolete. Since the advent of the fiber-optic cable, telephone lines are soon to be a thing of the past.
There are two lessons we can and should learn from the shifting paradigm in communications technology over the last 25 years. First, we need to be forward-thinking. We cannot afford to invest heavily in technology that we know will soon be outdated. The Library of Congress wouldn't transfer all it's stored data to 3 1/2 floppy discs, or even CD-ROMs, so why are we still developing support systems for technology that is rooted in oil production? The second lesson is the tougher one to swallow. Look what happened to communications technology in Europe and East Asia, especially Japan. Their wireless and internet capabilities far surpass our own in efficiency and range of use. You can talk on your cell phone in the Tube in London, or use your wireless network adapter on a bullet train to Kyoto. In an increasingly technology-dependent world, America cannot afford to be left behind. If we wish to survive economically, we must swallow our national pride and admit that most other first world nations are surpassing us with technology. We need to take a hint here.
If we can't shift our thought processes, we will be doomed to economic retardation. I am not saying that I have no confidence in this nation. Far from it. Look at what we did for the Great War: Before our entry into World War I, we were just some toddler nation, still fighting our expansionist wars and establishing territory. But faced with the greatest national and global conflict to date, the United States shifted its production into the war effort. Through that war, we established ourselves as a real industrial power. Again during the second world war, we flexed our muscle against the great German and Japanese war machines. I'm not saying it can't be done, just that if we don't act now, it's going to be a whole lot more difficult when we're faced with an ultimate choice: adapt or be destroyed.
We will inevitably be faced with that decision, just as every other living creature in the world has faced it. We have an advantage, however. We are sentient, [mostly] logical thinking beings, and we have the capability for foresight. Whether we wish to use that capability to avert disaster or not is our own impetus. Right now, however, it seems like with the power situation in this country at the moment, we are holding on to the past. We are living too much in our past glory to realize the fact that we are being surpassed on many levels. Right now the leaders of our country, heaviliy invested in oil production (go figure) have led us into an unjust war seemingly to profit from the remaining crude oil reserves in the Middle East.
War profiteering
If ever there was a more blatant case of profiteering and corruption of power... We need to understand that our leaders aren't doing what is in the best interest of the citizens of this country, and furthermore, the citizens of the world. We are at war to make money, and maybe kill some 'terrorists' while we're at it. If this doesn't anger you, you lack either a pulse or a brain.
The really unfortunate effect of this situation isn't the loss of life in Iraq. Two of my high school classmates were recently killed in an explosion there. While that angers and scares me, it's the impending crisis that we are soon to face on a much larger level that really keeps me up at night. Our leaders have put us on a course that will lead to our own destruction if we aren't careful and we don't adapt. We're digging our own graves by relying on oil in a rapidly changing global economy. Our dear leader is at the helm of what once was a great nation bent on world domination, but is now unwittingly contributing to its own demise. I speak not as an outside critic, but rather a concerned citizen. I am an American, granted, not a proud one, but an American nonetheless. This is my country too, and I can't stand to see it eaten away and bled to death by a power and money hungry megalomaniac. J'accuse, Mr. Bush. J'accuse!
But Seriously
We must also realize that ranting in French on the internet about a jingoist president isn't going to do terribly much. We need to focus on the small steps that we can take to make change. If we all make a little change - all 300,000,000 of us - we can add up to one big and important change. So in conclusion, here are some steps we can all take to help avoid the collapse of our dear country.
1. Ride your bike. If you don't have one, get one and ride it. It's good exercise, and you'll find you don't really need that car of yours just as much as you thought.
2. Use public transportation. Quit your whining about that 10 minute wait this morning for the T. You can get anywhere you need to go with a combination of trains, buses, and bicycles. That being said, I refuse to listen to or give any credit to anyone's complaints about their cars, the parking situation, or traffic.
3. Write your congressman. I know you've heard this one before, but did you actually ever write the official? Maybe you did, and you thought it wouldn't be enough. Wrong. If one letter doesn't get through, write another, and another, and another. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and if we all pitch in to annoy our elected officials, we can get them to do the things for which they were actually elected. Funny how that works, eh?
4. Educate yourself. Know the issues. Know what is going on in the world. If you have to watch Fox News, supplement it with CNN, the BBC, and Deutsche-Welle. Even then, it's important to understand contrasting viewpoints from different news sources. Pay attention to current world events and trends in politics, technology, and industry. Otherwise you're condemning yourself to a lifetime of stupidity, and will be persistently taken advantage of by those whom you unwittingly elected to power.
5. Don't vote Republican. This one seems like a no-brainer, but I was surprised at how many no-brainers voted for Mr. Bush in the last presidential election. Do your homework, and vote for someone who has not only the best interests of the country in mind, but also the best interests of the world. We sometimes tend to forget all the other countries out there, and that we may be seriously pissing off the vast majority of the world with our domestic political drama and inability to elect competent leadership.
6. Don't buy Dell. See, I still have a sense of humor.
Oil prices hit $67 per barrel today. That's a record high, says the BBC. "US refinery stoppages have come just as car sales and demand hit highs, and amid persistant security fears." We complain about high gas prices, then we go out and buy new Hummer H3s. We drive a half mile to the store and back because it's convenient. We Americans are spoiled to the core when it comes to transportation, and the answer to the problem is staring us right in the face.
We must adapt to survive.
In a world whose crude oil supply is rapidly diminishing, we simply cannot afford to keep consuming oil at our current rate. I'm not talking about the greenhouse effect, global warming, or the possibility of inadvertently starting a new ice age. I'm speaking more directly toward the possibility of a collapse of the U.S. economy. If the end of the world doesn't seem to bother you narrow-minded SUV drivers, maybe the end of your precious country will. The environment aside, the economy of the United States depends so heavily on oil, that without it, we are left to our own demise. If we don't start seriously altering our fuel consumption to renewable resources, we're going to be out of luck. Why? Imagine this: As gas prices continue to climb, fewer and fewer people will be able to afford to drive. This scenario leads (in our current political climate) to the destruction of the American Empire. If we don't start accepting the cost of alternative fuels now, we'll be up a creek without a paddle, so to speak, in 20 years or so.
Automobile companies are continuing to produce cars with horrendously low mileage rates, and we continue to buy them. Sure there are hybrids available, but sales of hybrid cars are no match for the old fashioned gas-guzzler. Even then, a hybrid car is still a hybrid - you need gasoline to power it. What I'm encouraging is a total reconstruction, a rebuilding of the American economy based on more eco-friendly and renewable resources.
The situation is grave
We are backing ourselves into a corner by continuing to rely on oil to power our imperial war machine. We are using outdated, oil consuming technology that will no longer be compatible with future technology once oil production begins to seriously slide. What happens when we can't afford to run our old machines anymore? Our cars will end up in scrap heaps, tankers will sit in dry dock, planes will be grounded. I dare not use the term, "screeching halt," but if we don't do anything about this crisis soon, that's the direction we're headed.
A good comparison for the oil industry is the internet and communications sector. During the 1980's, US phone companies spent billions of dollars hardwiring this country. They laid telephone wires everywhere they could to more completely network the country. Since then, the technology has shifted to high speed broadband wireless, rendering telephone wires and many cable lines obsolete. Since the advent of the fiber-optic cable, telephone lines are soon to be a thing of the past.
There are two lessons we can and should learn from the shifting paradigm in communications technology over the last 25 years. First, we need to be forward-thinking. We cannot afford to invest heavily in technology that we know will soon be outdated. The Library of Congress wouldn't transfer all it's stored data to 3 1/2 floppy discs, or even CD-ROMs, so why are we still developing support systems for technology that is rooted in oil production? The second lesson is the tougher one to swallow. Look what happened to communications technology in Europe and East Asia, especially Japan. Their wireless and internet capabilities far surpass our own in efficiency and range of use. You can talk on your cell phone in the Tube in London, or use your wireless network adapter on a bullet train to Kyoto. In an increasingly technology-dependent world, America cannot afford to be left behind. If we wish to survive economically, we must swallow our national pride and admit that most other first world nations are surpassing us with technology. We need to take a hint here.
If we can't shift our thought processes, we will be doomed to economic retardation. I am not saying that I have no confidence in this nation. Far from it. Look at what we did for the Great War: Before our entry into World War I, we were just some toddler nation, still fighting our expansionist wars and establishing territory. But faced with the greatest national and global conflict to date, the United States shifted its production into the war effort. Through that war, we established ourselves as a real industrial power. Again during the second world war, we flexed our muscle against the great German and Japanese war machines. I'm not saying it can't be done, just that if we don't act now, it's going to be a whole lot more difficult when we're faced with an ultimate choice: adapt or be destroyed.
We will inevitably be faced with that decision, just as every other living creature in the world has faced it. We have an advantage, however. We are sentient, [mostly] logical thinking beings, and we have the capability for foresight. Whether we wish to use that capability to avert disaster or not is our own impetus. Right now, however, it seems like with the power situation in this country at the moment, we are holding on to the past. We are living too much in our past glory to realize the fact that we are being surpassed on many levels. Right now the leaders of our country, heaviliy invested in oil production (go figure) have led us into an unjust war seemingly to profit from the remaining crude oil reserves in the Middle East.
War profiteering
If ever there was a more blatant case of profiteering and corruption of power... We need to understand that our leaders aren't doing what is in the best interest of the citizens of this country, and furthermore, the citizens of the world. We are at war to make money, and maybe kill some 'terrorists' while we're at it. If this doesn't anger you, you lack either a pulse or a brain.
The really unfortunate effect of this situation isn't the loss of life in Iraq. Two of my high school classmates were recently killed in an explosion there. While that angers and scares me, it's the impending crisis that we are soon to face on a much larger level that really keeps me up at night. Our leaders have put us on a course that will lead to our own destruction if we aren't careful and we don't adapt. We're digging our own graves by relying on oil in a rapidly changing global economy. Our dear leader is at the helm of what once was a great nation bent on world domination, but is now unwittingly contributing to its own demise. I speak not as an outside critic, but rather a concerned citizen. I am an American, granted, not a proud one, but an American nonetheless. This is my country too, and I can't stand to see it eaten away and bled to death by a power and money hungry megalomaniac. J'accuse, Mr. Bush. J'accuse!
But Seriously
We must also realize that ranting in French on the internet about a jingoist president isn't going to do terribly much. We need to focus on the small steps that we can take to make change. If we all make a little change - all 300,000,000 of us - we can add up to one big and important change. So in conclusion, here are some steps we can all take to help avoid the collapse of our dear country.
1. Ride your bike. If you don't have one, get one and ride it. It's good exercise, and you'll find you don't really need that car of yours just as much as you thought.
2. Use public transportation. Quit your whining about that 10 minute wait this morning for the T. You can get anywhere you need to go with a combination of trains, buses, and bicycles. That being said, I refuse to listen to or give any credit to anyone's complaints about their cars, the parking situation, or traffic.
3. Write your congressman. I know you've heard this one before, but did you actually ever write the official? Maybe you did, and you thought it wouldn't be enough. Wrong. If one letter doesn't get through, write another, and another, and another. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and if we all pitch in to annoy our elected officials, we can get them to do the things for which they were actually elected. Funny how that works, eh?
4. Educate yourself. Know the issues. Know what is going on in the world. If you have to watch Fox News, supplement it with CNN, the BBC, and Deutsche-Welle. Even then, it's important to understand contrasting viewpoints from different news sources. Pay attention to current world events and trends in politics, technology, and industry. Otherwise you're condemning yourself to a lifetime of stupidity, and will be persistently taken advantage of by those whom you unwittingly elected to power.
5. Don't vote Republican. This one seems like a no-brainer, but I was surprised at how many no-brainers voted for Mr. Bush in the last presidential election. Do your homework, and vote for someone who has not only the best interests of the country in mind, but also the best interests of the world. We sometimes tend to forget all the other countries out there, and that we may be seriously pissing off the vast majority of the world with our domestic political drama and inability to elect competent leadership.
6. Don't buy Dell. See, I still have a sense of humor.
posted by Jeff at
8/12/2005 01:12:00 PM
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4 comments
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