Tuesday, September 10, 2013

EYE-OPENING READING: Our Fossil-Fueled Future

Energy analyst Michael Klare - read him here.

2 comments:

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  2. Klare made a really interesting point about economics tying into the use of fossil fuels - and how the United States' ability to create technologies for extracting unconventional sources of energy gives us a clear advantage over other countries. Companies and investors have gotten so caught up in capitalizing on oil and gas extraction operations and turning out profits. The point that the fossil fuel industry has become such a huge investment focus for so many large corporations speaks to Ishmael's explanation of why humans have become the world's biggest enemy. We know our usage of fossil fuels is contributing to the destruction of our planet - we have the evidence and facts to prove this. But we have been unable to shift our reliance away from such harmful energy sources, because the powerful companies who have so much influence over our country (and the world) are invested in these fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas. As long as these giant corporations are seeing profit, they are going to continue supporting the use of fossil fuels, and they are going to continue to find ways of extracting energy from the earth. Ishmael is spot on - we are choosing to destroy the world in order to dominate it. Previously, I had thought the issue of our reliance on fossil fuel energy was rooted in our inability to find reliable substitutes. It is clear, however, that people are aware of other energy sources, like solar panels and wind turbines. What is stopping us from relying heavily on these sources of energy instead of fossil fuels, is our greed and desire to capitalize on investments, to have power, gain more power, and as Ishmael would say, enact our story of conquering the world.

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