Climate Change I and Energy Security I

I believe mankind should immediately and seriously embark on a goal, to be driven by technology, not market based trading schemes as they have unintended consequences, to reduce worldwide use of and dependence of most of the world on so many carbon based energy sources. This should be done without political hysteria (ha) or business resistance (ha), in order to bring change to the oil based tensions in the world, to stimulate intellectual processes and learning, to create new economic businesses to create jobs and as an important byproduct to reduce our contribution of green house gases into the atmosphere, whether or not our use is determinative to short term climate change. Still an open question in science.

Most importantly for the US, national security is on the line and our unnecessary budget deficits are ballooned by our attempts to keep oil flowing to the entire world, not just to the US.For this to happen we must recognize that energy costs will have to rise in real terms. If there were cheaper sources of energy that could be delivered competitive with current carbon sources, those same greedy US corporations, temporarily would be hailed as heroes until the profit were noticed, (greedy US corporations consists of voters and other people with Halloween costumes on) would have exploited those sources and have very profitable businesses presumably with less political hatred directed in their direction at least temporarily.

Some say our release of greenhouse gases is almost minuscule compared to even small volcanic eruptions not caused by the oil companies. Regardless, those eruptions and other natural events have shaped our world and the earth we love so much because that’s what we know most about and are closest to, long before our foot prints allowed us to make a single mark on the world. Those natural events will continue to occur long after mankind has experienced a systemic change and maybe been wiped off the earth due to natural systemic changes, probably other than global warming, asteroids, nuclear war, solar flares etc, something that most of us probably have not even begun to fret about. Even if our use of greenhouse gases impact our life during the next 200 or so years, nature will continue to do what nature has always done, create and destroy. For those of you who have seen the Rocky Mountains in Canada and the US, few probably think they are only looking at the current set of the Rockies. If you have seen the Rocky Mountains do you know which set of them you are seen? In some spots you can see elements of previous mountains, but some of the earliest mountains probably have no visible manifestation to day. Oh, and when you look next, do not forget to look for signs of the intervening oceans and plains and glaciers and all the temperature changes that occurred during those natural events so many today think only US based oil companies can be responsible for.

By the way, despite foreign and radical domestic protests, the US did not steal oil when it invaded Iraq as innocents and purely politically motivated types espouse as cute easy to repeat and emotion triggering bumper stickers and other slogans profess TO THE ENTIRE WORLD who use that against valid diplomatic efforts. However clumsily, the US truly hopes to keep the oil sources and lanes open for THE ENTIRE WORLD. So many millions of poor people and others outside of the US would suffer and die in the event of the disasters our disliked President and the military try to prevent each day as it has in ALL previous Democratic and Republican administrations and until consumers are willing to pay more for energy, the same will be the case for all future administrations including a plausible Obama administration.

We should find ways to make other sources of energy available and at a price competitive with oil. A friend once told me a decade or so ago, that we should stop using the limited oil sources we have and save them for later generations. He nor any one else was prepared to pay then or now, here’s my guess, twice the current price of carbon based products necessary to make alternative products available (even after many years of development yet ahead of us) and to find ways to make all current carbon energy sources from coal to oil much cleaner to use. This process should be free of hysteria and politics but of course it will continue to be fraught with it because of the rock start status that accompanies James Bond and the action thriller movies and TV shows for the creator, producers, writers and stars.

My wish is that we all believed today that we would run out of oil in one year. I am afraid we will never run out of oil until the middle east holds as much wealth as China. Forget about that arrogant third world country everybody will still enjoy sticking it to.