Lee, yes it's dire but not hopeless

Submitted by Jeff (United States), Apr 28, 2007 at 09:04

Hi Lee,

Yes, you're right, we are very dependent on our enemies, and therein lies the problem.

I didn't say any of this would be easy. But the alternative is to continue to finance people who hate us and plan our destruction.

What I'm talking about (or perhaps, dreaming about) will take time and effort. But are you really saying the nation that put a man on the moon almost 40 years ago, the nation that, in a patient, concerted effort, split the atom, can't possibly reduce its use of fossil fuels? Yes, it will take commitment. Commitment starts with leadership, which is what we sorely lack now.

Look around. Every public school I see has an expansive flat roof. Why aren't they covered with solar panels? Why can't our public buildings serve as laboratories for solar heat and other new technologies? Does your electricity come from a trash to energy plant? Why not? How many windmills do you notice generating electricity around where you live? Any at all? Why is that? Why can't hybrids be plugged in to a wall socket, (that technology already exists) then people who drive few than 20 miles to work in an urban environment wouldn't burn any gasoline at all. For much less than we spend each month in Iraq, every home in this country could have solar panels and a wood burning stove, and millions of us could be driving a hybrid.

If we could even drive the price of oil down below 30 dollars per barrel, that would severly affect Iran's ability to fund its nuclear weapons program and its terrorist funding and training programs. Even the rate of new building of Saudi schools of hate would have to slow, as the Saudis have other important and expensive priorities, like European real estate, race horses and vast hunting trips to Pakistan (bringing along zillions of servants and tents bigger than my neighborhood).

We don't have to go it alone. We could invite our friends, India and Japan, both heavily dependent on insanely expensive imported oil, to join us. That's a lot of combined brain power. Give that team facilities and funding equivalent to the Manhattan project, and I think they could come up with some interesting ideas.

We have a lot of oil in the central USA, tied up in shale. We're all too dumb to figure out how to tap into that oil? We're too stupid to figure out how to burn American coal and clean up its emissions? Really?

Don't be lulled by our current crop of "leaders" into thinking the only thing you can do for the war on terror is to go shopping or go to Disney World.

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