It’s time to break the American addiction to oil 12

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1. 

   stevenearlsalmony Posted 11:47 am
   09 Sep 2008

   Letter to the Editor, Chapel Hill (NC) NewspaperSeptember 9, 2008
   Tapestry beautiful but resources finite
   My father was in the business of manufacturing textiles. A tapestry is the centerpiece of our family's living room. Jane Ballard's Sampler hangs on the far wall. From an early age I learned to behold the beauty found in woven, ornamental fabrics and knitted cloth. But of all the tapestries and "samplers" I have ever seen there is nothing so beautiful, good or true as the tapestry of life to which Brian Lawe refers in his Aug. 3 letter. Each new life adds to tapestry. Mr. Lawe is due thanks.
   Perhaps my perspective of the biophysical world we inhabit as relatively small, evidently finite and noticeably frangible is mistaken. That may be so. It would please me so if it turns out that my observations are shown to be fatally flawed and Brian's perceptions of what is somehow real are altogether proven to be the correct ones. That will be just fine.
   Because something is happening that continues to worry me and occasionally to awaken me in the middle of the night, I find myself sending dozens of letters to editors, hundreds of missives into the blogosphere and thousands of e-mails into cyberspace. Always the theme is the same. It is simply this: Earth's body is finite, its resources are limited, and its ecosystem services capable of irreversible degradation by the huge scale and anticipated growth of human over-consumption, overproduction and overpopulation activities, the ones we see rampantly overspreading the surface of our planetary home in our time. Earth does not resemble a mother's teat at which the human species may forever suckle. Despite the assurances of many economists and politicians, Earth is not a cornucopia. No possible way.
   The unbridled growth of the human species presents a colossal challenge to the family of humanity. The Earth as a constant, seemingly endless provider of whatsoever human beings desire is a fantasy ... a widely shared, consensually validated, distinctly human product of wishful and magical thinking.
   -- Steven Earl Salmony, Chapel Hill
   
   

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2. 

   LPS Posted 1:14 pm
   09 Sep 2008

   The Oil AddictionSong

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3. 

   Pangolin Posted 5:05 pm
   09 Sep 2008

   People KNOW!!According to my local bike shop bicycles are flying out the door and good luck getting a cargo bike. All sorts of scooters are being offered for sale and used car lots are closing.
   Big SUV's and trucks sell for silly low prices and I even saw a 'for-sale' sign on a shiny black hummer.
   The political hacks and car makers are way behind.
   
   Put the Carbon Back

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4. 

   BlackBear Posted 7:29 pm
   09 Sep 2008

   "Addiction"I think that calling our dependence on cheap oil an addiction is spot on. Most of the addicts refuse to see their habits as a problem. Those that do understand that their habit is bad for them and everyone around them tend to shrug their shoulders and say, "I'm trying to quit." We've tossed aside everything in our life that doesn't satisfy our craving and we're increasingly desperate to have more and more of it.
   I think that this latest "exploration" of tar sands and oil shale is the last stage before we hit rock bottom. Perhaps it's equivalent to the alcoholics that finds themselves chugging mouthwash.
   Even leaving out the "pollution" and "infinite growth on a finite resource" arguments, it is clear that Americans will once again have to grab their bootstraps and start haulin'. The only reason for optimism here is that this is what Americans do best.
   We have built one of the biggest and wealthiest countries in the world from nothing but a bunch of poorer than dirt immigrants, sweat, and a few good ideas. Most Americans are proud of that heritage and if they think about it will assert that no one has more gumption than us.
   What is this current set of problems but another chance to show the world how we get stuff done?
   (I'm very surprised that this argument isn't being used in this election.)

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5. 

   Russ Posted 7:58 pm
   09 Sep 2008

   rock bottomI think that this latest "exploration" of tar sands and oil shale is the last stage before we hit rock bottom. Perhaps it's equivalent to the alcoholics that finds themselves chugging mouthwash.
   
   That's exactly what it is. Tar sands, oil shale, deepwater drilling, heavy oil, Arctic exploration, CTL...
   The earth-miners try to frame these as grand new opportunities, and I'll concede that depictions of the the growing Arctic freneticism as the new Great Game does stir the soul, but the fact is, as Peak Oilers are pointing out, all these are actually acts of desperation.
   These are all admissions on the extractors' part that easily extracted sweet crude is just about finished, and that every drop of oil from here on will be more and more difficult, expensive, energy intensive, and environmentally destructive to extract.

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6. 

   Spearhead Posted 12:09 am
   10 Sep 2008

   BlackbearGood post - I couldn't agree more.  
   I'm not sure why people in this country blindly refute the "alternative energy" options and cling to fossil fuels.  America has always blossomed as a result of our "big dreams" and innovative atmosphere, creating jobs, wealth, and generally making the world a better place for everyone.
   Why, when Americans were able to create democracy, establish much of modern medicine, be the first to flight, establish oil as a source of energy, nuclear technology, and use a computer/internet based infrastructure, are so many reluctant to migrate from carbon-based energy to a new energy platform?  
   As much as I don't want to believe it, I think it's the special-interests that have a hand in everything Capitol.

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7. 

   Bud Dingler Posted 3:03 am
   10 Sep 2008

   so what alternative fuel technologyexactly are we proposing with all the hand waving here?
   fuel cells?
   electric cars?
   no real savings there - still have to produce the hyrdrogen or electricity.
   sounds like a pipe dream to think all of sudden we will not need oil.
   granted for home heating we have some options like solar. I just don't see the obvious answer provided - just a lot of hand waving

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8. 

   Pangolin Posted 5:16 am
   10 Sep 2008

   The alternatives are readyTransportation: Primary transportation should be bicycles or feet. Neighborhood electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids would take care of 95% of all single vehicle transportation. The remaining 5% will be specialty vehicles.
   Public transit: At the neighborhood level Personal Rapid Transit systems could deliver people and palletized goods to neighborhood hubs. Light rail and electrified heavy rail will take care of most travel with over-water travel managed in lighter-than-air vehicles. The current model of airlines using jet fueled aircraft is dead without massive subsidies.
   Home power: Rooftop solar panels will collect heat and electricity supplemented by geo-exchange systems that allow thermal banking between seasons. Grid power from wind, concentrated solar thermal, geothermal and hydropower will cover the rest.
   Agriculture: Farms will get smaller allowing the use of battery powered or methane powered tractors. Produce distribution will be by light monorail systems replacing overly expensive asphalt roadways. The goal of farms will be to balance the ash weight and composition of product sold with soil amendments purchased otherwise producing soil fertility on-site to avoid shipping. Competition for migratory birds visits will be fierce due to guano value.
   Industrial power: grid power from renewable resources.
   Marine Power: the oceans get a break as the cost of diesel exceeds the value of fish production. Sail power is used but not really free as the sunk investment in existing shipping and fishing fleets drags the industry down. The choices will be expensive oil-powered shipping or cheap and slow sailing.
   See, that's not too hard. It's just not business as usual.  
   
   Put the Carbon Back

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9. 

   BlackBear Posted 7:07 am
   10 Sep 2008

   Hand wringing vs. hand waving...This is exactly my point, thank you! What I hear a lot of (here as much as elsewhere) is that we're doomed to failure, that it can't be done, that any/all alternatives are the pipe dreams of aging hippies...
   Oil wasn't as viable a source of energy when it gushed out of the ground in Pottsville until people invested in its potential and made it so. The same can be said for everything useful we enjoy today.
   I guess that I am talking more about an attitude than specific solutions. Smarter people than I have proposed some really interesting strategies and solutions (here and elsewhere). I'm just wondering how folks that consider themselves to be fierce patriots on both sides of our political coin are missing this key point: Americans pride themselves on their independence, their free and indomitable spirit, and their willingness to embrace the future.
   Instead we get folks from both parties playing to our fears and suggesting short term and patronizingly simple "solutions" and I think that more people than anyone realizes it resent it.
   We are the spiritual (and actual!) descendents of wide-eyed radicals willing to risk hanging for our freedom, pioneers capable of trekking across a continent with their families, and heroes willing to fight for what is right even half a world away. Give us a challenge and a vision for an independent and sustainable America worthy of us.

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10. 

    stevenearlsalmony Posted 9:53 pm
    10 Sep 2008

    A worthy and sustainable vision......................The idea "small is beautiful" is not a new notion; the adoption of such an idea leads to sustainable behavior. Surely the reasonable and sensible embrace of a "beautiful, low-consumption lifestyle" for the sake of a better life for a democratic majority of people; for the promotion of global biodiversity; for the protection of the environment; and for the preservation of Earth as a fit place for human habitation, could be one of the most powerfully sustainable and immediately effective behavioral changes the leaders of the family of humanity have made in a very long time.
    Steven Earl Salmony
    
    AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population,
    
    established 2001
    
    http://sustainabilitysoutheast.org/index.php

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11. 

    John former Marine Posted 11:59 pm
    10 Sep 2008

    Did anyone else get the chills?Did anyone else get the chills listening to a bunch of scary crazy Republicans chanting "drill baby drill!"?  My wife and I looked at each other and started brainstorming on places to go...Canada, Belize, Argentina?  The Republicans have already arranged to have our e-mails and phone calls monitored.  With Censoring Sarah in office, they'll soon be having neighborhood book burnings instead of block parties.  That chant was pretty blood-chilling to me...sounded like a Fascist movement about to take off.  Maybe it's time I shave off my beard....
    
    Il faut cultiver notre jardin.

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12. 

    Wolverine Posted 4:57 am
    11 Sep 2008

    Forget The Beard, JohnWe know who you are and we have a file on you.
    Seriously, my first reaction to Reagan getting elected president was wanting to leave the U.S.  Unfortunately, I'd never been out of the country and had no friends or known relatives there, so I had no idea how to do that.  I actually tried to move to Germany in the mid '90s, but couldn't prove my partial German ancestry and thus could not get citizenship.  Now, many friends have told me that if McCain gets elected they're leaving, though it remains to be seen whether they'd actually do it.  However, I've never heard this before, so it's obviously not just my perception that things have gotten much worse here.  Some friends are talking about leaving regardless of which jerk wins, because they rightly realize that while he's not as bad as McCain and the Republicans are not as bad as the Democrats, they're all evil jerks who support U.S. imperialist wars.

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