To Change the World

This was originally sent to my godparents in response to one of their emails in which they asked for thoughts on how we would like to see the world change. I liked it so much that I decided to put it on here.

"Well, for one thing I think that greed hasn't gotten us anywhere and it's certainly not GOING to get us anywhere. Thinking that the road to happiness is to have more or go more or do more or just more more more (biggering is what Dr. Seuss called it in The Lorax) isn't right or healthy. Eventually we're going to look back and say "gee, I wish there was more peace/nature/air in the world" and regret all the things we "biggered" in the past.

Another thing that woud help is for people to look to other countries for ideas and collaborations. Spain, for instance, is the leading manufacturer for wind turbines and they're raking in a pretty penny from it. Why don't we try to get into that market? What about solar panels? We have all this technology and innovation in this country that we're not putting to the right purposes.

I also think we should stop whining about how little other countries are doing and start just doing more ourselves.

Yes, China needs to cut down on the coal A LOT, but that doesn't mean we are automatically absolved of our own responsibilities. We need to commit ourselves to a timetable to get out of Iraq; after all the PM just ASKED us to leave (a fact which McCain has completely glossed over) and it would free up about a trillion dollars for other things like renewable energy research, education, health care, and other insignificant little niceties.

At the core of solving our energy crisis, though, are two things: conservation and diversity. We simply can't rely on one source of energy for all our needs as we have with oil. All sources have pros and cons and some of them might actually have limitations on amount (such as natural gas and coal). Some might even cause more harm in the long run than any other source (ie nuclear). We need diversification to find out what works, to allow different technologies to build up, like wind and solar which I still think are the best bets in the long run.

In the short term, however, I believe the only thing that's going to help with high gas prices IMMEDIATELY and on a personal level is for people to conserve energy. Don't leave lights on so long, don't drive three blocks to go to the grocery, use the bus when you can or carpool. Offshore drilling isn't going to do it, drilling in ANWR isn't going to do it, those measures are just going to destroy priceless wild spaces for a band-aid effect that won't even kick in until 2012.

Measures to curb these big oil companies are also essential, but I don't think those are going to take immediate effect even if they were implemented tomorrow (which they certainly won't be). Record profits and record prices are not the way that capitalism is supposed to work and they have what amounts to an oligarchy on oil.

The bottom line about all of this, though, is that we need to pay attention first and foremost. If we don't know what the real issues are and we don't know what actually going on (which is usually different than what the mainstream media tells us), we're not going to be able to change anything. Americans need to alter the fundamental thinking that they have about other countries, energy, politics, and religion and there DEFINITELY needs to be a change in the White House. We've already started the first, in my opinion, just look at the "green movement," we just need to clinch the second.