by Kelly Sobanski

Created on: September 16, 2008

America's Energy crisis is never going to turn around simply because oil is cheep again. The price of oil is only a short term solution to a long term problem. In many ways its like treating a broken leg with only a bit of pain medication. The pain medicine will help the current hurt, but it will not fix the long term problem.

WE as a nation depend on foreign oil for our power. We import billions of dollars worth of foreign oil. Asside from that, oil is an un-renewable resource. Many proposed solutions will cost more in money and oil to retrieve the fuel than the fuel is worth. This is the broken leg.

What nations have oil to sell? Some of the fuel rich regions lie in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, and Russia. To put it simply, we give money to nations that do not like Americans, and fund terrorism in exchange for energy. If oil is worth $100 or $150 a barrel it doesn't matter, it still is an outflow of money from our economy. With the weakness of our economic situation right now, losing money to foreign nations is a bad idea. Losing money to families who own oil fields and fun terrorists is an even worse endeavor.

Aside from that, oil is an un-renewable resource. The earth is not making oil, or if it is making oil, the process is infinitely slower than our use of the substance. As a global economy, we will run out of oil. Within 100 years our world could be staring at a situation where the price of oil doesn't matter because there is none to sell. Worse than that, in 100 years the people who will be able to afford more expensive fuels and research into re-newable resources will be those nations who had oil to sell. That is not the united states.

To turn around the energy crisis, we need to focus on renewable energy sources, and not just for our home heat or cars. Hydro power, and electric vehicles are marvelous, but we also need to use renewable energy to power our factories, and work our mass transit.

Speaking of mass transit, self power, and other non-individualistic ways of getting around, there needs to be more insight into their power to transform our world. Too many Americans drive places where walking or taking mass transit would better serve their purpose. Aside from that, our health care crisis is partially due to obesity. Instead of joining a gym, bike to work in the morning.

Our Energy crisis requires a lifestyle change to fix. We need to create a cast for the broken leg instead of simply taking pain medicine in the form of cheep oil. Our dependency id crippling our economy as easily as leaving a bone untended. Eventually, Americans will find out they left a huge problem on the shoulders of their children or grandchildren. Lets fix it before we arrive.

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