Discussion Board

Lots of people who are all for slowing down global warming are beginning to get real about the current needs to keep our economy running.
Wanting to keep their jobs and their homes over the next few years and willing to keep longer term goals of "perfect energy" to a bit further in the future.
Clearly the price of oil is creating great problems and come this winter, you are going to have millions of people shivering in the Eastern areas of the USA unable to afford heating oil.
Real needs....real threats to health and family finances RIGHT now.

I might add that the new technology for cleaner fuels requires a thriving economy to pay for the advances in solar, wind etc.
We need a reliable source of oil as soon as possible or we're gonna be in deep _____, and you'll see a revolt with $6 to $10 per gallon gasoline.
Everyone will suffer.

I'm a lifelong Democrat living in the most liberal area of the country and I'm telling you, attitudes are changing as the crunch is creating real hurt.

We need both types of power.....alternative as well as traditional until we can make the shift.
Right now, 3 to 7 years down the road looks very near. I've come to the conclusion we can't rely on or expect the rest of the world to do all the drilling and exploration for oil. Why are their lands OK to drill in and ours must remain exempt from any drilling? More hypocrisy if you ask me.

Here is a rather anti-Democrat site......but even I as a lifelong Democrat think the visuals have great value. The issues surrounding drilling in Alaska have been complete distorted by pressure groups.

Take a look at this site. While I don't agree with their political commentary or bias, I do believe most of what they show in photos and diagrams is true. I have several friends who live in and love Alaska. Multi-generation Alaska natives.
To a person, they all favor drilling in the Anwar region.......in the limited areas that are proposed.
We, in the lower 48, have been sold a bogus story about Anwar.
A real disinformation campaign.

Anyway, take a look

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atla ... -this.html

For those who suggest it will take years..........Well what would you say to a farmer planting a new fruit orchard which will take 4 to 7 years to bear fruit? WE need every bit we can get as soon as possible or our nation is going to be at great economic risk, involving nations who don't like us.

When and if a disruption takes place it will crush our economy and people will scream for action. We'd better begin that action today.
Nothing that says we can't do alternative energy at the same time.

We are now sending 500 to 700 billion overseas for oil.........
It will only get worse in 3 and 5 and 7 years. WE face real economic peril. Time to get real on all fronts.
If you think this won't affect YOU.......think again. What do you think is gonna happen to your 401K's and your Roth Accounts...and even your government pensions if our economy goes into a decades long dumper.

The Goldilocks perfect solutions are not reality at this point. We are in danger. A danger much closer than decades away....
A danger that can affect your lives in every way.
Time to wake up. Without a strong economy we can't afford expensive alternative power. Tax revenue depends on a strong economy and any subsidies require government money for solar, wind etc.

OK.....look at that site on Anwar. Whats more important, keeping that tiny area none of us will ever visit pristine, or allowing reasonable safe oil exploration to take place so middle and lower income folks won't freeze in winter. This winter you will see these real choices being made. Food or heat. Medicine or heat......... Expect suffering with sky high heating oil.

I just hope they have some serious long-term planning that is not centered around keeping us dependent on fossil fuels. It has been over 30 years since the last oil "crisis". The gov't should have been planning for this problem then. My concern is the drilling now is simply another move to delay dealing with the problem.

Your answer is typical and naive.... Yes, plan for the future and attempt to make it cleaner. But GET REAL.......do you look at true economics?
Do you or did you know the magnitude of the dollars we are sending overseas? Have you followed the value of the American Dollar.?

A sea change is taking place. Huge transfers of wealth are taking place which will leave the USA a much poorer place. IF that trend continues just who do you think is gonna pay for all these technological improvements?

Where do you get your news? Do you ever read the Economist magazine?
LOOK at the world..... Understand what is happing.
Where do you think the dollars are going to come from to pay for your retirement? What kind of work do you do?
Who.......what economy....is going to pay for your health care?

Have you ever spent any time wondering where your money comes from?
I'd like to know the answer to some of those questions because so many Americans live in some dream world thinking our past economic heights are guaranteed into the future. This is not true.

The precarious nature of our economic structure is more fragile than you realize.

Look at Anwar...........over the next decade we need that oil to run our economy without sending hundreds of billions into other unfriendly nations.
Just yesterday, Budweiser and the parent company was sold to a European company. Why? This isn't just a isolated happening.

You cannot go on day after day, year after year.......decade after decade sending trillions of dollars overseas and not have huge implications for YOUR future.

I'll ask you again.........Who is gonna pay for YOUR retirement......and who is gonna pay for your Medicare?
This stuff doesn't grow on trees.
If we are lucky we will just get by using ALL the sources of energy we can muster. Thinking we can become oil free is just a foolish dream. And if we are going to continue to use oil.......why is our land sacred while other nations lands are not?

You and the nation has been sold a bill of goods about Anwar.
If.......If we do not use sources like Anwar, then expect to be soon using tar sands oil from Canada and our Rocky Mountains.......because we WILL use oil for decades to come. Any other ideas are just a foolish dream.

We need ALL the power we can get..... Alternative as well as fossil...
You may not like that but dreaming that it will be otherwise is unrealistic.
Even Boone Pickens plan for massive wind power admits that.
Did you read his views?

I sense a ramble/rant commin' on here on my part. I share Purdy's views even more strongly than he has currently expressed them! I also understand and share Chumly's hope that some long-term planning does not keep us tied to oil. In my view, drilling and long-term planning are mutually exclusive and independent ideas. We should expand drilling and we should be putting a lot of money behind alternative forms of transport/fuels!

However, in MHO, we currently have the sorriest "representatives" money has bought in Washington, DC in DECADES!! Given the two choices we currently have for our next President, I hold even less hope for the future, ref this current discussion.

I'm going to bail out here, as I feel my B/P arisin'.

The icing on this cake for me - I'm responding in a forum titled "Global Warming". Speaking of a bill of goods being bought by the American public!!!

That's All for Now Folks

Bill

Global warming and higher energy prices may cause big business to rethink its marketing strategy. Engineers may switch from designed obsolescence to quality engineering. Homeowners may actually grow a few of their own foods instead of buying from the supermarkets’ choice of over five thousand product, most of which aren't really even food, at least not the kind intended for the human body.

Already oil prices are dropping because American consumers are consuming less. We need to consume much less in order for Al Gores' worthy goal of energy independence to be realized. We must change.

Even if by a miracle we were completely energy independent today, the world’s oil production can still easily be consumed by China and India. Fortunately, our solution will be the world’s solution and both China and India will follow suite and conserve. That should be our common goal. Functioning like glutinous consumers may keep us busy working making consumer products for all the busy beavers but does nothing for our quality of life.

It's long overdue that there would be a locally grown supply of food to offset the needs in case of an economic crunch. If the economy goes too far downhill food will itself become a currency. In ancient times grain, livestock, and spices were common currencies and any wise nations would store "7 years of grain" in case of a famine or drought.

Cities should begin a practice similar to this again so that society does not collapse if the economy does. But as long as our ability to eat is tied entirely to how much money we make we're in real danger.