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Bail US Out of the Fossil Fuel Economy
It's my turn. I want a bailout. Not hundreds of billions of dollars to the auto industry for making an inefficient, dirty product that Americans have stopped buying. Not trillions of dollars to the banks that have made bad loans, creating an explosive housing bubble, leading to the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression.
I want to be bailed out of the fossil fuel economy. America must kick the fossil fuel habit for our environment, our economy, our national security, our health, our children -- and forever.
Even with lower gasoline prices, America's dependence on fossil fuel is still gouging us at the gas pump. The cost of heating and cooling our homes is skyrocketing. The fossil fuel economy is stoking the war in Iraq, fouling our air and water, jeopardizing our national security and exacerbating catastrophic climate change.
If America could put a man on the moon, we can make the transition to 100% clean, renewable, non-nuclear energy within 10 years. It will require unflinching leadership an order of magnitude beyond anything that today's political leaders have proposed.
Catastrophic Climate Change
There is scientific consensus that we are in the midst of a worldwide emergency with catastrophic climate change -- the warming-driven destabilization of the earth's climate system. It threatens our way of life and our children's future.
Statured scientists agree that global warming is caused by human activity and attributable to historically unprecedented levels of greenhouse gases in the air from burning fossil fuels. Some noted experts have even called coal and oil unintended weapons of mass destruction.
The effects of such climate change could be devastating for life on this planet: inundating island nations and coastal areas; causing severe droughts and storms and spreading infectious disease. It is stressing our oceans, forests, wetlands and permafrost, all carbon sinks which help to absorb excess greenhouse gases when healthy.
These are not tomorrow's problems; they affect every American today. Even a concerted effort today to curb dependence on fossil fuels will slow -- but not halt -- catastrophic climate change.
National Security
Our dependence on other nations for fossil fuels imperils the national security of the United States. American national security now depends on propping up a few shaky authoritarian regimes in the Middle East. This creates wars for oil, inflaming hostilities against Americans and making us more vulnerable to terrorist attack.
Not just environmentalists, but conservative national security experts like former Reagan official Frank Gaffney warn, that dependence on foreign oil "is a national security emergency." In addition, "we are likely to find increasing competition from China for limited oil will become a flash point for future conflict, if not an actual causus belli [cause of war]."
Even the Pentagon reported* that because of the potentially dire consequences of abrupt climate change, the issue "should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a U.S. national security concern." The February 2004 report says that with 400 million people living in poor, overpopulated regions, "climate change and its follow-on effects pose a severe risk to political, economic and social stability."
According to The Observer, the report warned that "major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a 'Siberian' climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world."
Doug Randall, one of the authors of the report, told The Observer five years ago, it may already be too late to prevent a disaster but that since the consequences for some nations are so high, "It seems obvious that cutting the use of fossil fuels would be worthwhile."
Dirty Air and Water
Much of our air and water pollution comes from burning fossil fuels. Human activity has greatly increased the atmospheric concentrations of compounds like nitrogen, carbon dioxide, mercury and lead. Excessive amounts of these compounds act as toxic air and water pollutants. The largest known source for most of these compounds is the combustion of fossil fuels by automobiles and power plants.
What goes into our air eventually ends up in our water, as shown by the tragic decline of the magnificent Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation notes that power plants burning fossil fuels "are collectively the worst toxic emitters in the country." Among other toxins, "They contribute 40 percent of all mercury emissions, or roughly 48 tons of poisonous mercury each year." Mercury results in "contaminating fish populations throughout the Bay" and poses a direct threat to humans, especially children through fish consumption.
Fuel Costs
The cost of heating homes and travel has increased dramatically in the past few years. The situation will not improve in years to come because of limited oil supplies and fierce competition from rapidly growing nations like China, India and Indonesia. And soaring jet fuel costs are threatening the viability of our airlines and raising the price of air travel. Similar problems beset farmers running tractors and construction companies operating heavy machinery.
Conclusion
In order for us to move beyond the fossil fuel economy, corporate America -- especially those seeking taxpayer handouts -- must do their part. American automakers are no exception. If they are to receive assistance, it must come with a requirement that they phase out the gasoline engine in 10 years or less.
Just as digital technology fueled the economic boom of the 1990's, green energy technology will create the economic advancement of tomorrow. More than a bailout, or a sacrifice, getting off the fossil fuel economy, is an opportunity for extraordinarily positive change, the kind our President-elect Barack Obama has promised. Clean, renewable, non-nuclear energy -- like solar, wind and geothermal -- is the basis upon which we must rebuild if our economy and our planet are to survive and thrive.
* The secret, 2004 Pentagon report was authored by Peter Schwartz, CIA consultant and former head of planning at Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and Doug Randall of the California-based Global Business Network. The report was obtained by The Observer.
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22 Comments so far
Show AllHahahahahahahahahahahahaha...
It really is just laughable sometimes. In "10 years" with hundreds of billions of dollars of government subsidies you might be able to take 25% maybe 30% of the internal combustion engines off the road. What are you going to do, just give every American a new electric vehicle at a cost of 30K or 40K each? You really think the several million people who spent tens of thousands of dollars each in the past... say 2 years are going to wave goodbye to their old vehicle with no compensation for the equity they have in it? How are you going to spur people to make the change... tax gasoline into the $8, $9, $10 a gallon range... better make some plans for the ensuing riots in the streets. I'm all for a transition to less fossil fuel use, but try living in something close to reality.
Some people on this site brought up the idea of hemp to replace petroleum. In any case, nobody's going to bail you out of the fossil fuel industry except yourselves. Get out of the consumerist culture and you'll be out of the fossil fuel economy by at least 50%. And then find everything made out of fossil fuels and come up with a substitute. 9 out of 10 times, hemp can replace fossil fuels on all those plastics, clothing, food, and you name it. And stop relying on government to bail you out. They only work for monied goons and you know it !
HEMP HEMP HOORAY BROTHER ! Yeah, this article is rather useless. She thinks we need government to get us off the fossil fuel economy. If she had even done her homework, she would have found out that Henry Ford and Rudolf Diesel both used HEMP for manufacturing and for fuel before it was outlawed. How pathetic we're fighting wars for oil all the while outlawing our abilities to grow hempseed oil for our daily needs.
nwfisher,
to answer your question, instead of spending trillions of dollars bailing out the greedy elites and auto makers, the money could be used to convert the current combustion engines into hybrid or electric. Imagine that instead of convincing people that committing horrible attrocities around the world is necessary to maintain American hegemony, the same tactics were used to convince them that is necessary to change our ways because we owe it to the future generations.
It's because of cynical people like you that nothing positive gets ever done, cause you are the one who lacks perspective and understanding of what could really be achieved.
Ok... so we take a trillion dollars or so and do what.... write every American a check for the $15,000 or $20,000 dollars to convert their current vehicle or more than that to buy a new one? What if I like my vehicle the way it is (as millions will) how are you going to force me to change... the aforementioned massive gasoline tax (and the riots that follow), just outlaw them.... This has to be a process and it will take 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 DECADES to implement and denying that just makes people look foolish.
Once Americans realize the inflation, caused by these bailouts, is making their money worth so much less and while the price of food continues to increase, there will be plenty of riots. Do you not think our Government sees this? Why are they stationing 20,000 Combat Troops with NORTHCOM for civil unrest?
This process does not need several decades. Look up some progressive plans in many areas such as:
-The big three continue producing cars WITHOUT the combustion engines to allow those who livelyhoods depend on the automakers. Focus large sums of money on developing an electric engine that is viable with the money that might go for a bailout, i.e. free money. Produce a means to retrofit existing vehicles with the new engines and provide subsidies to allow many people to do such retrofiting.
-Invest in our public transportation system heavily for those who cannot buy new cars or retrofit their existing ones. There will still be gas for their car but at a huge price, so they will be forced into public transit. Europe has been doing this for years and their public transit has become amazing. Mag-Lev technology has reached a point where it is more economically viable than flight.
-Fix our power grid and invest in solar, wind, and geothermal to power this grid. These technologies are becoming more and more viable and require only a one time expenditure, which also has added benefit of creating millions of jobs. Coal must go, and those in the coal workers union can find jobs helping build up the new grid or the green power industries.
Most importantly, stop thinking of the cost of these projects and start to think about the RESOURCES required. We have the man power easily to build and man these project easily. We have the materials to back these projects as well. All we need is the will and the understanding of how cooperation as a nation is the only way to overcome the problems of today. A major change will occur soon... will it be for progress or regress?
www.zeitgeistmovie.com
“I have no doubt that we will be successful in harnessing the sun's energy... If sunbeams were weapons of war, we would have had solar energy centuries ago.”
--Sir George Porter
Also - coalitions are being formed there is a mass online movement being mobilized by Union of Concerned Scientists http://www.ucsusa.org/action/
You have an option of both logging on for letter writing campaigns and forwarding to other potential writers.
Rocky Mountain Institute has a "smart garage" electric car, smard grid, and vocal pressure for change - and many other design projects that are institutional in scale. Its not the single answer - but worth being aware of. If it impresses you share it with as many people as you can.
Whats happening is the divide that so many of us are depressed about IS being approached. BUT - everybody has to kick in, become informed and share information.
Check out Archdruid, Kunstler, Theoildrum.com, Energybulletin.net. Then consider Howard Odum's "Environment, Power and Society. Post Carbon Institute will give you some organizing principles that can get us started. Old hippie materials also apply. For example "Integral Urban House". You can get a copy from Alibris.com.
All Obama has to do is make the fossil fuel industry and the nuclear industry pay for their pollution damage from cradle to grave and these will contract and disappear.
ok... and what about the struggling family now paying $8.00 a gallon for gas or $1000 a month to heat their house because of the tax the "fossil fuel industry" will pass on to them in higher costs? What about the millions of unemployed as huge sectors of the economy come to a screeching halt?
We're already heavily subsidizing fossil and nukes. We are also paying for their pollution. Here's Obama's plan, which I kind of like:
"An Obama-Based Alternative Energy Economy
Obama's plan is indeed an Apollo project for alternative energy.
The plan seeks to rapidly accelerate the world's transition to renewable fuels, while turbocharging the economy and weaning us off our dependency for cheap credit at the same time.
Here's what Time Magazine had to say about his plan in relation to the current economic problems:
He wants to launch an "Apollo project" to build a new alternative energy economy. His rationale for doing so includes some hard truths about the current economic mess: "The engine of economic growth for the past 20 years is not going to be there for the next 20. That was consumer spending. Basically, we turbocharged this economy based on cheap credit." But the days of easy credit are over, Obama said, "because there is too much deleveraging taking place, too much debt." A new economic turbocharger is going to have to be found, and "there is no better potential driver that pervades all aspects of our economy than a new energy economy ... That's going to be my No. 1 priority when I get into office.
So what exactly would an Apollo Project for energy look like?
According to the Apollo Alliance, which Obama supports, a rigorous program channeling $500 billion over 10 years to alternative energy projects is needed. That money would be dedicated to:
*
Generate clean power (25% from renewable sources by 2025)
*
Improve energy conservation and efficiency
*
Cut energy bills
*
Improve US technological and industrial capabilities
*
Create 5 million green-collar jobs
Compared to what we're currently facing, each one of those bullets would be a welcomed change.
25% renewable power compared to today's 6%.
Improved energy conservation and efficiency instead of complacent energy waste and misuse.
Reduced energy bills compared to the current high and volatile prices.
A renewed dedication to science and math, from childhood on up, that puts America back on top of today's information-based economy and allows us to export energy technology to the rest of the world.
The creation of 5 million new well-paid and secure green jobs instead of the 760,000 we've lost so far this year.
Such is the second pillar of an alternative energy economy: initiating programs from the top down that facilitate a culture change in which the country makes solving the energy crisis a priority and an opportunity.
Realizing an Alternative Energy Economy
The third pillar of an alternative energy economy is this: migrating from ideas to action and seeing real change, progress, and results.
Once the policies have been implemented and the strategy is in place, action will commence.
Free market initiative combined with government oversite and support will lead to renewed and sustained investment, the creation of jobs, and the deployment of voluminous amounts of renewable energy projects and capacity in the form of new wind farms, solar installations, geothermal and tidal use, electric vehicles, and new electricity transmission.
The government will have new tax revenue to support energy projects, the real economy will benefit from newfound jobs and savings from stable energy prices for home and auto, and American society will benefit from private and corporate re-investment in our education system and communities.
That's how I see the fundamentals of an alternative energy economy.
Of course, there will be long-term, unquantifiable, and unforeseen benefits as well—cleaner air, increased productivity, national pride, and a sense of unity to name few.
And, along with new new investment at the government and private early round levels, will come new green investment opportunities for us and increased profits from the already established renewable energy companies.
It's going to be a great thing.
Call it like you see it,
nick hodge
Nick
P.S. Big Oil already knows about the new energy economy, and now they're quickly trying to change gears so they can get a piece of the action. But it's not going to happen. They're simply too late. It's going to be the companies already in the game and the new green companies making a name for themselves now that will get the lion's share of the renewable energy profits. Savvy investors like you have the chance to profit, too! Read this full report on why Big Oil will fail in its pursuit of renewable energy and how you can profit from the companies that will succeed."
http://www.greenchipstocks.com/articles/alternative-energy-economy/295
Come see Third World Appalachia thanks to Presidebt Bush and THE COAL INDUSTRY ! We can't stand anymore of their progress http://www.wisecountyissues.com
You want to get off oil?
You want low to zero emissions?
You want sustainable and renewable energy?
You want energy that doesn't come from our food supply?
Then let's face it, you want clean coal technology and modern nuclear energy.
How much do you get paid to shill for coal and nuclear? Your suggestions are part of the problem, not part of the answer:
COAL
FACT: All coal is a dirty, polluting, non-renewable energy source, contributing up to 40% of all greenhouse gases. An average coal plant in the U.S. produces 3.7 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. The average coal plant in the U.S. emits sulfur dioxide, small airborne particles that can cause chronic bronchitis, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, mercury, arsenic and lead. There is no such thing as “clean coal.” In addition, coal mining companies engage in the heinous practice known as mountain-top removal, destroying life in nearby communities.
NUCLEAR POWER
FACT: Accidents on the scale of Chernobyl, causing death and deformities for generations, can still occur in all commercial reactor designs. Nuclear waste remains an unsolved problem that has significant long-term health, environmental and safety problems associated with it. We have the technology to develop and use clean, safe, renewable sources of energy and do not need nuclear power.
snydly
Another probability around nukes:
The climate is very likely to give us some heavy coats of ice, not unlike the weather scenario of "The Day After Tomorrow".
Nuclear plants covered with even a few feet of ice, if not immediately and perfectly shut down, would likely melt down-China syndrome style- forming radioactive steam chimneys that could poison large areas.
What a great gift to the ages that would be.
Nicely stated. Don't expect the uneducated, backwards seeking coal worshipers to get it, my friend. These people rely on their gas guzzlers and grotesque consumption patterns to feed their insatiable addictions. Coal much like the president elect who is married to it, represents political dead-enders.
I can not tell others how to live, but I can tell others how we live. Then perhaps some folks will be encouraged to transition as we have into a sustainable ecological lifestyle. Not that we've arrived at realizing all our goals, but making changes at every opportunity is closing the gap.
The changes began in 1990 after reading Al Gore's book. We began recycling. Then we started gardening organically. Our gardens have expanded to where it not only meets much of our own dietary needs, it has become a profitable cottage industry.
Our home is made from materials found on site or close by. It's a small log cabin with vaulted ceilings and a loft. Building this way is a slow process, but the results are satisfying and lasting. We lived very comfortably in a tepee while building our cabin.
The next step for us will hopefully be the addition of solar panels. We are also making plans to build a passive solar garden house. All the materials we need to build it are right here, cob, logs, stones. There just so happens to be a small lumber mill less than a mile away. We mill larger logs with an Alaska mill which attaches to a chain saw.
We have 2 horses which graze in the meadow surrounding us, which is surrounded by forest. The horses are our lawn mowers and provide a lot of fertilizer for the gardens. We also poop in a composting outhouse. This is an excellent way of giving back to Mother Earth. The "humanure" fertilizes our raspberry patch and fruit trees.
Lastly, we cut waaay back on driving. We drive one or 2 days a week tops, carpool when possible and combine trips making a long list of things to accomplish with each trip. And we ride bikes and always encourage others to do the same. This is even easier for city folks. Out here in the sticks our bike trips are longer. But the scenery makes up for it.
So basically, my point is, we don't need to wait for the new age to come nor our government to bail us out. As Gandhi said, "be the change you wish to see in this world". We're doing it, and have saved thousands of dollars, thousands of gallons and are having the time of our lives! Dig it.
~Moondog "Aaaawooooooo!!!"
The author needs to repair her vocabulary knowledge. A bailout is money given to you when you're in debt and have no way out. Fossil fuels on the other hand are another matter. Nobody told you to use them. Sure, they show up on everything we use in addition to filling up our vehicle tanks. However, in other countries, there have been new ways to make the same things out of renewable resources. It's a lot for me to discuss but you get the idea. Grow your own new ideas and innovations but stop begging government because right now, they don't give a shit unless you're a monied elite like Big Oil.
Zeigeist II: Addendum
Now at www.zeitgeistmovie.com for free viewing.
Enlightenment is the only cure to the pandemic of corruption/poverty/monetary-ism.
It is up to us ALL... are we up to IT?
“The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance -- it is the illusion of knowledge.”
--Daniel Boorstin
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous than standing armies… if the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of currency… the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of their property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”
--Thomas Jefferson
You don't have to wait for auto makers to have a non poluting electric car www.evtradinpost.org has some also check out solartaxi.com an around the world trip powered by only the sun. It can be done. Peace
Unfortunately for all of us, the estimate of 20 years in the US Defense Dept- sponsored report from 2004 has been reduced. 4 years later, the estimate given incoming President Obama is 8-10 years. This is why he has set climate change/energy independence as his first major project.
Again, unfortunately, it will be impossible to get the developed and developing world to do nearly enough in that time frame to mitigate climate change, particular as the US and many other governments, along with many major US and global companies are bankrupt.
We were originally warned of all these problems in the 60s & 70s, and world leaders mostly chose to ignore them. Most have a 90 day attention span.
Our children will face the catastrophic consequences.
If I could get an electric/AIR car for the driving I mostly do I would buy 80 to 90% LESS gas. There is a problem with this as I feel millions of people would jump on the alternative vehicle over night. What car to drive, the one you have to fill up for several bucks or the one you plug into the wall for a few pennies. Then in no time everyone and his dog would have a windmill in the backyard and solar panels on the roof. So the electric industry would be upset as well.
Here is where the problem is, where does the Government get the BILLIONS $$$ it makes in gas taxes every day? That billions would have to be replaced some how. So you get taxed more, even if you don't own a electric car??
Going green isn't a free ride since our Gov spending and every Gov is unregulated. Billions just go away into thin air every year. Untill every penny the Gov makes has a recept attached this Green shift will cost more in the long run. The only winner will be auto industry and the environment but that is OK as well