I'm probably one of the very few that don't get overly excited over low gasoline prices. To be clear, I'm happy for the industries that are dependent on cheap fuel prices and for those who cannot afford the high cost of gasoline. I get it, because I've never convinced my wife that low gasoline price is not necessarily a good thing, so I understand that they are not many people who will agree with me. I concede, owing a Prius, might be influencing my thoughts a little bit. I still am wondering if those who were blaming the president for high gasoline prices three months ago because he didn't sign the Keystone XL Pipeline Project, will give the president credit for the today's gasoline prices. The XL project has not begun, and oil prices are falling. That was a rhetorical question because presidents have nothing to do with the oil prices that are sold on the open world market. I'm not saying that it won't enhance the president's chances of getting reelected, if gasoline is selling for less than $3.00 a gallon in November. We always have to factor in the low information voter.
I may not be a full fledged wracked environmentalist (I didn’t mention of how the microorganisms would be hurt) but I can see our environment, especially if EPA laws are severely restricted, take a huge hit. I'm not ready to blame greenhouse emissions for the Colorado fires, but I can see where it might've been a part of the intensity of the fires. I'm not ready to compare local weather reports but horrendous wildfires, heat waves, droughts,severe hurricanes,tornadoes and massive flooding ,all the fall into the extreme climate conditions scientists have warned us about. I assume we have all heard of the intensity a 1° rise in temperature in the ocean can cause. We can't restrict climate-change weather patterns to the United States, even though we are the world's largest greenhouse-gas emitter. I recall the warning from, James Hansen, NASA climatologist, saying that if we started tapping into the Canadian oil sand, it would probably boost our crude production for many years to come, but in his words could mean" game over" for the environment.
Our current economic slowdown has reduced our demand for oil; hence the lower prices.
When I'm not worrying about the environment, I worry about the clean green energy innovators who will give up trying to find the next great alternative energy. You can bet that China will use all the oil and coal they can, but they will have a lot of scientists working on alternative fuels. I can see start-ups like the Massachusetts A123 system which provides lithium-ion batteries for electronic cars might be filing for bankruptcy at today's prices, even with their large government subsides. The same for plug-ins like the Chevy Volt and Nissan leaf. Didn't we learn anything from the oil embargo of 1974?
We will continue to use oil because it's a cheap energy source, but the price at the pump does not factor in the health and environmental hazards. Fossil fuels will be with us for a long time but as of today, it's not an infinite source of energy. We need an energy plan that would incorporate a manageable safe use of crude oil and include a plan for alternative clean energy.
9 comments:
I am a follower on the VA twitter account and they follow me as well. Caution if you do the same because Sonny Long's Twitter account is sending out fake tweets. Mine tweet said "someone is spreading rumors about you." with a link. I quickly deleted the tweet.
I just got one from Frank Tilly's account...Time to go and Unfollow them...They have been hacked.
It's probably itisi and rollinstone--maybe they're mad because they can't play anymore!
Lol....If they are as smart as their comments ,that task would be beyond their boundaries ...:-)
Wow. A social network that gets hacked and sends out fake stuff. Whodathunkit? Nice job, Crapocate.
Anyhoo, back to the matter at hand. Again, nice use of graphics, Mike. A picture is indeed worth a thousand words.
I go back and forth with my dad about this all the time, and I'm sure I've mentioned this here, too. But growing up with family who has a foot or two in the oil/gas industry in some way or other, I can see both sides of the coin. But fossil fuel is where dad places all his bets. Not me. I understand this is what he knows, this is what he lives, but I can't seem to convince him that these sources are indeed FINITE and we MUST work harder to develop alternative energies. We are already, as a species, way behind the times on this. Wind, nuclear, solar, hydrogen fuel cells, these are the things we are capable of harnassing and improving. Our survival depends on it. We can and we must.
It's folly to think that such a destructive species as ourselves can inhabit a planet and not have any long-term detrimental effect on it. Global environmental change is real and goes beyond the natural cycle of the planet. We have, probably irreversably, damaged this environment and this planet will likely not survive us.
Gas prices are dropping....I say, bad. Once again humans, as they so often do, will get complacent and get in their gas-powered vehicles and pollute the atmosphere once more. I'm guilty of this myself. When I go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, I like to gaze at a hydrogen fuel cell they have behind the glass at the Weiss Hall of Energy. Of course, this is a minor display amidst all the oil and gas drilling panoramas in the hall. Maybe one day, those oil and gas displays will be there only to serve as a history lesson to another generation, the way the dinosaurs are displayed, or the Hall of the Americas, where one can see how certain native tribes used to live. The next generation will look upon the barbarity in disbelief, saying "Can you believe they really used to do that? How PRIMITIVE".
Ok, stepping off soapbox now. All I know is that something's gotta give eventually, and I pray it won't be this planet. Once she's gone, she's gone.
Mike,
I just got a tweet from you stating the very same thing
Thanks Kyle but I didn't send as you have figured out.
I only have 27 followers but all have sent fake tweets to me with the same "someone is sending rumors about you." The VA has been hacked and now I am,so let's hope they didn't hit FB.
Sugar,outstanding post ,now " go spread the news" to your party...:-)
I owed several gas stations,so the oil industry is not my enemy but the earth is getting warmer and more populated everyday and those people are going to want the same things we take for granted today....Alternative energy will cost more initially but I would rather for us to have the technology than our competitors.
While I consider myself much lefter than right, I remain unconvinced that Obama is any better than his predecessor. I know that R-Money is not the workingman's answer either. Jusy sayin'. Drifting off topic, to address a previous blog of yours, I was flattered, while I might beg to differ with your comparisons. I will say as I have told my other acquaintences who were a direct result of the Advocate. I appreciate yhe management of 2005 selecting me to contribute as a blogger, and to start to whittle down on the scraps of paper and napkins and beer coasters, clogging my shirt pocket and catch-all corner of the countertop at my homes. Water under the bridge. It taught me that I have a voice. I wish them well, Their readership is increasingly a group different than the one I was raised by and grew up with, I look for my cars and steal of a deals on Craigslist now.......want ads......?..... okay maybe I bought a flathead V* '49 Ford fron the vicads for $200 once upon a time.......no mas.
"I remain unconvinced that Obama is any better than his predecessor"..Ouch..:-)
You know what they say about first impressions; the ViCad blogs was my first experience with citizen journalism. And I came away very impressed with the writings of Pilot, The Grey -Beard Loon, and Sugar Magnolia.
I agree; we have a voice..Keep blogging.
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