So, here is what we know as fact:
1. Oil is underground.
2. Oil Company drills for Oil.
3. People buy Oil.
So, this may seem a little uncomfortable - but perhaps we need to look at #3 ... instead of focusing on #2. Can we really live in a free market system with a straight face and protest Oil companies and then drive our Gas-powered car to the movies on Friday night? I am not completely unrealistic and expect everyone to stop buying oil or oil based products (because that would be about 80% of the stuff in your house) - but what I am advocating is reducing our waste of oil. There is a big difference in using oil to build products that we use effectively, and driving around town and burning gas just for the heck of it. (Florida is the 3rd biggest consumer of oil in the United States.)
Ironically, it seems we are arguing over POWER... how much POWER the Oil companies have and how they abuse it, and how little POWER the government has to stop this mess... but in reality neither of these entities have any power. We hold all the POWER. We make the decision whether to use oil or not. We make the decision on the future of energy. We hold all the POWER.
Posts
2 comments:
I agree that, simplistically speaking, it all comes down to power: who has it, who wants it, and the lengths some go to gain or by contrast lose power. In regards to the consumption of oil, I feel that a deeper issue arises, even greater than our dependency to use oil.
The bottom line is that, with each passing generation in the United States, a mentality of "what's in it for me" and this persona of "I'll just settle for taking the easy way" has fostered a nation of followers, or sheep. We know that our growing dependency on foreign oil must decrease, not augment. We understand that alternative fuel development is crucial, but so far, it seems to just be a small blip on the horizon.
I think that there are numerous reasons, or excuses, as to why such efforts fall short (R&D, time, money of course), but the underlying motive to it all seems to be, plain and simple, Americans have yielded to maintaining a sense of complacency that, in their own individual world, makes perfect sense. The people do have the power, but the problem isn't that they can't or won't use it; it’s that they are indifferent to it even existing.
Well said Rich
Post a Comment