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The Way It Is: The Era of Energy Trades War for Comfort
By Steve Thomas
The noise is sharp, ominous and growing louder. It is not the deep roll of thunder; it is almost like the snapping of dry sticks. That sound is, in fact, the sound of thin ice cracking, and when it comes to our nation’s energy policy, we’ve been skating on thin ice for along time.
In any discussion about politics or policy, it is common courtesy to inveigh against finger-pointing. I reject this. Finger-pointing should be the start of any discussion of U.S. energy policy. Finger-pointing should be followed by fist-shaking, sign-making, petition-signing, marching, rock-throwing and maybe some bomb-making or noose-weaving. Any sensible person should be willing to dispense with everyday courtesies and find the energy to get screaming, fighting mad about energy. Massive outrage may be all that prevents massive outages.
For over 30 years, the American people have let themselves become victims of bipartisan cowardice, big business collusion, foreign greed and our own exaltation of comfort above all else, a delusional embrace of a status quo built on a crumbling foundation. Our political leaders have failed us by not speaking the truth regardless of consequences. Business leaders have failed us by giving into our own worst desires. Overseas oil suppliers have behaved like heroin peddlers, albeit with less moral refinement, growing rich on our drug of choice and delighting when we founder. Inevitably the chain leads back to all of us, though, with our love of gas guzzlers, our refusal to balance environmental protection with industrial needs, our docile acceptance of any lame reason offered for higher gas prices, our refusal to think beyond our next paycheck or next major purchase and most of all, our poisonous love of cheap energy, the cheaper the better.
It’s hard not to love cheap energy. We can go many places on a small budget. We can live and work comfortably at a manageable cost. We can have light, mobility and climate control with plenty of money left over for food and fun. It’s a dream life, which is nice, but awakening time has come.
It is contrary to human nature to walk away from that which has served us well. Since our comfort currently endures and much of that rests on how much energy is available and at what cost, it is difficult to seek change. Yet change has come. We are both agents of change and victims of it. We talk about our desire to control our fate in this arena, but our approach is piecemeal and unsustainable.
The ice is cracking. We keep on skating.
Leadership on this issue has to come from Washington. A strategy is needed that embraces all major facets of energy: production, disbursement, new technology development and availability, affordability, environmental protection and security. A single strong speech and a few experimental programs are not enough. A far-reaching program that will have an effect on the lives of all Americans is needed. A bad energy situation exists now and we’re not dealing with it. We’re just paying for it.
Government can intervene and make things better. It has been done before. In the 1930s, great swaths of this country had no electricity. The defenders of the status quo said they would be irresponsible if they spent lots of money to get electricity to many poor and rural areas. Such undertakings would be an injustice to their customers and shareholders, they said, among many other things.
President Franklin Roosevelt took action. He broke ups some of the biggest electric holding companies. He built hydroelectric dams and had power transmission lines run all over the country. These actions did not destroy capitalism or the country. What it did was bring modern energy to more Americans and everybody prospered.
It’s time for government to act on behalf of the people. We need leaders who will take on big oil, the auto industry, the electric industry, refiners and environmental extremists to create a powerful, long-term system that will match intelligence and common sense with available resources, emerging and cutting-edge technologies, consumer needs and environmental concerns. It is too huge to leave in the hands of big business or special interest groups because they are not accountable to the
American people. Only government is accountable and only government is up to the task.
If for no other reason than national security, the government should create a realistic energy policy. We are dependent on oil and will remain so for at least 20 years and to leave this strategic resource in hostile or unstable hands is foolishness almost beyond measure.
Energy policy should be the overriding concern, period. There is no greater long-term threat to survival of our nation than our current non-existent energy policy. We have let this problem fester, too cocooned in our comfort to demand more of our leaders and ourselves. Short-term, we have to be willing to act smartly and make adjustments or be prepared to shed a lot more blood in oil-rich places like Iraq, because that is now the price of comfort.
The Era of Energy As We Know It is ending and we keep skating on thin ice, deaf to the sound of it cracking. Soon our blades will be damp, then our feet and before you know it, we will be in a different situation altogether - cold, wet, dark and alone.
Subscribe To Lake AlertsIn any discussion about politics or policy, it is common courtesy to inveigh against finger-pointing. I reject this. Finger-pointing should be the start of any discussion of U.S. energy policy. Finger-pointing should be followed by fist-shaking, sign-making, petition-signing, marching, rock-throwing and maybe some bomb-making or noose-weaving. Any sensible person should be willing to dispense with everyday courtesies and find the energy to get screaming, fighting mad about energy. Massive outrage may be all that prevents massive outages.
For over 30 years, the American people have let themselves become victims of bipartisan cowardice, big business collusion, foreign greed and our own exaltation of comfort above all else, a delusional embrace of a status quo built on a crumbling foundation. Our political leaders have failed us by not speaking the truth regardless of consequences. Business leaders have failed us by giving into our own worst desires. Overseas oil suppliers have behaved like heroin peddlers, albeit with less moral refinement, growing rich on our drug of choice and delighting when we founder. Inevitably the chain leads back to all of us, though, with our love of gas guzzlers, our refusal to balance environmental protection with industrial needs, our docile acceptance of any lame reason offered for higher gas prices, our refusal to think beyond our next paycheck or next major purchase and most of all, our poisonous love of cheap energy, the cheaper the better.
It’s hard not to love cheap energy. We can go many places on a small budget. We can live and work comfortably at a manageable cost. We can have light, mobility and climate control with plenty of money left over for food and fun. It’s a dream life, which is nice, but awakening time has come.
It is contrary to human nature to walk away from that which has served us well. Since our comfort currently endures and much of that rests on how much energy is available and at what cost, it is difficult to seek change. Yet change has come. We are both agents of change and victims of it. We talk about our desire to control our fate in this arena, but our approach is piecemeal and unsustainable.
The ice is cracking. We keep on skating.
Leadership on this issue has to come from Washington. A strategy is needed that embraces all major facets of energy: production, disbursement, new technology development and availability, affordability, environmental protection and security. A single strong speech and a few experimental programs are not enough. A far-reaching program that will have an effect on the lives of all Americans is needed. A bad energy situation exists now and we’re not dealing with it. We’re just paying for it.
Government can intervene and make things better. It has been done before. In the 1930s, great swaths of this country had no electricity. The defenders of the status quo said they would be irresponsible if they spent lots of money to get electricity to many poor and rural areas. Such undertakings would be an injustice to their customers and shareholders, they said, among many other things.
President Franklin Roosevelt took action. He broke ups some of the biggest electric holding companies. He built hydroelectric dams and had power transmission lines run all over the country. These actions did not destroy capitalism or the country. What it did was bring modern energy to more Americans and everybody prospered.
It’s time for government to act on behalf of the people. We need leaders who will take on big oil, the auto industry, the electric industry, refiners and environmental extremists to create a powerful, long-term system that will match intelligence and common sense with available resources, emerging and cutting-edge technologies, consumer needs and environmental concerns. It is too huge to leave in the hands of big business or special interest groups because they are not accountable to the
American people. Only government is accountable and only government is up to the task.
If for no other reason than national security, the government should create a realistic energy policy. We are dependent on oil and will remain so for at least 20 years and to leave this strategic resource in hostile or unstable hands is foolishness almost beyond measure.
Energy policy should be the overriding concern, period. There is no greater long-term threat to survival of our nation than our current non-existent energy policy. We have let this problem fester, too cocooned in our comfort to demand more of our leaders and ourselves. Short-term, we have to be willing to act smartly and make adjustments or be prepared to shed a lot more blood in oil-rich places like Iraq, because that is now the price of comfort.
The Era of Energy As We Know It is ending and we keep skating on thin ice, deaf to the sound of it cracking. Soon our blades will be damp, then our feet and before you know it, we will be in a different situation altogether - cold, wet, dark and alone.
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The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of LakeExpo.com.
buz painter wrote on Jun 8, 2007 11:15 PM:
" Tell me again what the "government" does when oil production peaks in the world and every year we have less and less. What policy would you institute exactly to make sure we have cheap fuel to power our SUVs and air conditioners? And by the way, when has "government" ever made the situation better?
"A problem can never be solved on the same level on which it was created." Albert Einstein
buz painter
"
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