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RSS FeedHow should government react to a warming world: Ration energy or learn to adapt?
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| Ration | 22% | 37 votes | Total: 170 votes | |
| Adapt | 78% | 133 votes |
Ration
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Add to FavoritesTo me, this isn't a question of whether to ration or adapt, it's whether or not the government is going to be able to do both in time, or at all.
The world stands on the threshold of overpopulation and is currently experiencing food scarcity, melting ice caps, the disappearance of species and the overheating of the earth. It's no wonder religious types have been screaming about the nearing of an apocalypse - with the state of the world, it seems like we might actually be near one.
Although I'd say its probably out of pure disinterest our society and government have not done enough to promote climate stability and a decrease in pollution, I think we as a general population are to blame more than anyone else. Environmental scientists have been saying that we've been negatively impacting the planet for at least thirty years and we need to stop, yet even now as we see the effects directly (from the melting ice caps to the possible extinction of bees), we still have much of our own populace decrying global warming as mere "fiction".
Our media has taught us to be more concerned with our own looks and social stature rather than genuinely caring about our world and fellow citizens. By making it commonplace for us to judge another person by first appearances or the cash in one's bank, we've made it all the easier to turn the opposite direction in the face of those in poverty or the pressing causes at hand. Television and movies place more emphasis on sex, money and personal pleasure than the issues that should be dealt with. The reason much of our youth has no interest in voting or changing their ways isn't because they don't care, it's because we've presented too much positive reinforcement on the wrong topics.
While I believe that by rationing energy and learning to adapt our government can probably help to reverse some of the environmental devastation we've already caused, I think that without the population's genuine interest in changing the world we're not going to reverse much of anything. Unless we can get the population to genuinely care and limit our usage of limited resources, chances are our actions will be too far and few between to stabilize the destruction of our environment.
Learn more about this author, Aeryk Thomas.
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Adapt
This is not a supply or consumption problem. This is a problem we created by allowing our governmental agencies to over-regulate our energy market. Rationing energy is just another layer of regulation. Any energy shortage can be resolved in just a few years with some simple steps. In the following, I will show you how our free market economy has already begun to resolve this issue. Let's start by defining the proposed solution:
Rationing is the controlled distribution of resources and scarce goods or services: it restricts how much people are allowed to buy or consume. Rationing, for whatever reason, controls the size of the ration, one's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time. It is a short term fix to a supply problem, not a long term solution. Think about it... Even if rationing was able to reduce consumption, our nation will continue to grow... as will other nations like China... and the energy demand will invariably increase. If you truly believe we face an energy crisis, the only option is to find a way to produce more energy in a cleaner way. We need energy. That will never change. So let's talk about realistic solutions for our energy needs.
GET MORE OIL: There is obviously a finite amount of oil available. Right now, we have through regulation and legislation avoided tapping our own oil resources in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. Are we to believe that foreign dictatorships are better stewards of the environment than we might be when drilling for oil? We support their unregulated harvesting; often financing whole evil empires in the process, as the globe is impacted far worse than if we had done our own drilling on our own soil. This is obviously another short term solution, not a permanent fix.
NUCLEAR POWER: We've all seen scary movies portraying nuclear waste destroying the planet, but the truth is, we now have the technology to provide clean energy with a much lower environmental impact than fossil fuels. The same activists who demand change on behalf of our planet deny the simplest, most cost effective solution simply through paranoia with no factual basis whatsoever.
HYDROELEC TRIC POWER: Did you know many states don't use fossil fuels at all? In fact, much of our power comes from nature, with virtually no dangerous byproduct. Talk about reducing your carbon footprint! This has been around since before the first "gas crisis", when our nation stepped up and found a realistic solution to the power needs of our growing population.
SOLAR POWER: They say you'd have to pave Texas with power cells to power our country, but a company called SunTechnics is offering a better solution. They put solar collectors on residential roofs. The residents are still connected to the power grid, but often end up feeding more power in than they actually draw, resulting in rebate checks from the power company. This works in large industrial areas as well. Companies can save money on energy costs while also reducing their consumption significantly. Now, developers are building entire subdivisions with solar collectors on every roof, and home buyers jump at the chance to save money on power. That's the free market economy hard at work, solving problems politicians only argue over.
ALTERNATIVE FUELS: A number of alternate energy technologies have emerged to power our transportation; everything from hybrid cars that use electricity, to biofuels derived from sugar, corn, and soy. The BMW motor company has even developed a clean energy car that runs on liquid hydrogen produced from water using solar power.
All of these are simple solutions that have developed simply because of consumer demand. People want choices. They will pay for them. The free market recognizes this opportunity, and provides the choices. Keep the politicians out of it. Let the system work! It's working already, far faster and more efficiently than any taxpayer funded government agency could hope. The world isn't coming to an end. The solutions have already begun to work.
Here are the web references for the information I mentioned:
BMW Hydrogen Car: http://www.bmwworld. com/hydrogen/
SunTech nics solar power: http://www.suntechni cs.com/
The National Energy Institute on Nuclear Power: http://www.nei.org/
Learn more about this author, Patrick California.
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