The Price of Our Addiction For years to come, we'll be paying for our oil in both treasure and blood, as we fight and parley to keep ever-tighter supplies flowing our way. April 24, 2006 issue - The U.S. lives in an energy trap. We fell into it gladly, dug it deeper and sit fat and happy, with blinders on. We're fed daily meals of imported oil, from countries we pay in IOUs and think we can push around. But now we're starting to see the costs and risks of our dependency—and I don't only mean gasoline averaging $2.74 a gallon at the pump. For years to come, we'll be in the hands of some of the most dysfunctional governments in the world. Oil prices will rise and economic growth will slow—not this year, but almost certainly a few years out. We'll be paying in both treasure and blood, as we fight and parley to keep ever-tighter supplies of world oil flowing our way. Full Article
Well stated, but there are alternatives for our addiction: renewables and conservation or "negawatts" and "negaLiters". Sun, wind and water are abundant and available every day. Most people don't see renewables as alternatives, because corporations have manipulated our thinking. Holding onto, and making use of, what we already have, is much cheaper than "going and getting more."
Look, all I want is 450 gallons per year, at a price that doesn't leaves me feeling used. If I drive more than that, I'd have to be doing it for work and then it's THEIR budget paying for it, not mine. What irks me is how some OPEC-types think $70 a barrel isn't close to the VALUE of oil. Apparently, their aren't any old Arabic tales of shopowners who charge too much and get their throats cut. Or there are, but $200 a barrel is where they'd start feeling nervous. I don't mind someone dragging the stuff out of the ground, fixing it up some, and selling it at a profit. I don't mind the expenses of looking for more places to get it being included. I do mind when other things like greed drive the price up at a whim. I don't think I'm addicted. I'm just ticked-off...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(skruse @ Apr 19 2006, 01:02 PM) [snapback]242237[/snapback]</div> I like the whole idea of getting into using ethanol, a renewable source. But perhaps it's because I'm fresh from watching the "Sugar" episode of Modern Marvels where they spent a good 15 minutes of the show spotlighting Brazil's countrywide use of ethanol that helped them to stop depending on foreign oil as their main energy source.
I heard Michael Klare give an excellent talk on this subject last night. I highly recommend reading his book, "Blood and Oil." The gist of it is that unless we remove ourselves from the state of being a petroleum-based economy, the consequences will be severe- both to the environment, and to our security. Iraq, and soon to come Iran, are only the beginning. To do this will require a major investment in alternative renewable energy resources (not the lip-service that the current administration pays to it), and will also require radical changes in our way of life (moving away from the suburban sprawl into local, sustainable communities.) <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rancid13 @ Apr 19 2006, 03:54 PM) [snapback]242236[/snapback]</div>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rancid13 @ Apr 19 2006, 03:25 PM) [snapback]242253[/snapback]</div> I saw that episode and loved it.
Ditto, I saw that Modern Marvel's show, but only the last 5 minutes One thing people seem to forget though is while yes OPEC oil price is sky high, you have to notice that U.S. Oil companies who's job it is to process it send it out have been reporting profits of a level that neither Bill Gates nor the tobacco industry could dream of having. So I'm not going to blame OPEC one bit on high gas costs, you want to blame high gas? Blame Exxon-Mobil, Cheveron, and the whole lot of those scumsuckers. But thanks to the lovely Bush administration who thinks that they should get a ton of research money to research alterative fuels (yah, wolf meet hen house) as well as tax break after tax break, we can continue to get it from both ends at the pump and the voting polls </end rant>
