Realitology

“The Study of Reality”

Warning! This Blog Contains Social Commentary, Brilliant Observations, Dry Wit, and Rampant Sarcasm. Use At Your Own Risk.

 

Comments on “How we failed our children”
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Just after I made my post on the end of oil I found this great post talking about the negative things that our dependence on oil has caused. Here are a couple of quotes:

The engine of modern prosperity runs on oil. That may have worked in the last century, but it’s a complete and total disaster in this one. And unless we get to a radical new solution right away, our children will be slaves. Oil plagues us in every way. It pollutes our air, over heats our atmosphere, funds terrorists, and gives sinister governments enormous power and sophisticated weapons.

and

Think about it. For over 30 years our government and business leaders have led us down a dark slippery path where our way of life and our standard of living would become increasingly dependent on religious fanatics or ruthless despots. So what have we done?

We’ve darkened our children’s future. We’ve enriched scary countries like Saudi Arabia who support terrorism, Iran who wants to nuke Israel, and Venezuela who is becoming the new Cuba. Meanwhile, Europe has turned reborn ruthless nuclear Russia into an energy-fueled totalitarian powerhouse. And it’s only going to get worse. Why? World demand is exploding and too few people control the supply of “devil juice.”

Those are strong and truthful words. It seems like most people know this deep inside, but few people really seem to be that concerned about it and even less act upon it.

It’s like everything else in modern life—out of site out of mind. People briefly freaked out after September 11 2001 and then after gas prices fell it was like it never happened. "Wow glad that oil crisis is over. We’ll never have to worry about that again. Gimme another SUV!" Then when gasoline prices inevitably went up again people acted so surprised and amazed! "Oh my god this is such a shock. How could it have happened? It costs me $100 to fill up my Suburban." Gee I really feel for you lady.

The public’s short attention span and view of reality never ceases to amaze me. I believe it’s truly an extension of our "throw-away" society, our "I want it now" mentality, our "Give me what I want and screw everybody else" mentality.

The post I referenced doesn’t just complain about things it actually offers solutions and hope. Here are a couple of more quotes:

We have a 13 trillion dollar economy. Through incentives, tax credits, and direct investment, why can’t we spend one quarter of one percent ($320 billion) a year to find clean, renewable solutions that will create new jobs, hope for a more peaceful world and a future for our children? If what we were spending on the “war” was spent on freeing ourselves from oil slavery, wouldn’t that be money better spent?

If you think all of this is impractical idealism. It is only because we think so. The idea of America was one of the most impractical, idealist concepts in history. What was different was that we had leaders who were committed to our independence. Isn’t it time to demand from anyone running for a major public office to have a real plan for energy independence. Shouldn’t it be standard to be taken seriously?

There are always people who will tell us we can’t achieve our dreams because they profit from the status quo. When we believe their version of the future we feel powerless and act like we are. There is not shortage of solutions to solving our energy crisis, only a famine of will.

Truer words were never spoken! I hope that this situation will be on people’s minds more and more. We as a nation need to demand more of our leaders in so many ways. They only reflect the greed, selfishness, and short-sightedness, of most of the people who have elected them. We as a people need to work to improve our world, and we need to demand that our elected officials do the same.

Vote, write to your elected officials, call them, visit them, let them know what you expect of them. Shut off the TV, get off the couch, and do something positive!

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