It's Enough to Turn you Green

Green energy, forgive me for saying this, appears to have been co-opted by those I refer to as the empowerment and dignity crowd--people who embrace symbolic gestures over substantive gains.

For example: We talk about electric cars.


 Electric cars have to be plugged in to charge. They need energy. There must be a source for this energy.

Now, if we embrace nuclear power--called the atomic bomb of Damocles hanging over our heads back in the days of my youth--we have not adequately shifted our paradigm.

If we set up solar energy fields, we are shifting land use. (Remember when running cars on corn seemed like a good idea? Remember the emission claims? Remember the skyrocketing costs of food due to land use shift?)

If we develop solar power cells to install on the roof of every homeowner who owns an electric car, we are moving forward. (Fast enough to neglect people who cannot afford their own homes, but that is another issue.) If we install solar panels on the roofs of our cars, then, then...!

A larger solution would be a massive upgrade to a more convenient and marketable public transportation system. (I am not going to quibble about whether the Government or Private Industry can do a better job building it.)

This, however, calls to mind some of the factors that quelled our passion for public transportation.

One factor was that our enthusiasm for public transportation ran contiguous with the rise in crime. Saying things like 'aggressive panhandler' instead of 'subterranean terrorist'.

Add to that the factors of inconvenience and higher costs.... Let's face it. Our economy is structured to promote one person in one car going from one place to another; or going from place to place throughout the day. This is a far cry from the days when I got up early for 'take your grandson to work day'.

My Grandfather and I took a bus to the city. Then, our cities were large enough to accommodate enough office buildings to accommodate all the workers. Today we have suburban campuses.

However, be hopeful. What we are doing here at Linkedin is a fore-teller of our business communities of the future. (With the exception that none of us appears to be getting paid for what we do here.) But, I digress.

Petroleum is the raw material for the products we use in our society. And though we admit to or concede or recognise what I am about to tell you to be true, we behave as if the situation does not exist.

When I was a youngster, there were 150 million Americans. Today, there are 300 million Americans.

Bio-degradable garbage bags are no solution.

Low flush toilets are no solution.

And certainly, the mercury vapor grenades coming to your home are, well......

Each fad that comes down the pike serves only to placate the public. (We could have a bake sale.)

I call it THE EBENEZER EFFECT.

Each holiday, many of us watch the movie "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens.

Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by three ghosts: Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas yet to Come. He repents his evil ways. We breathe a great big collective sigh of relief, and go on our happy way exonerated vicariously of our greed.

(Did someone say, "Carbon Offset"?)

We can buy bio-degradable trash bags, install mercury vapor light bulbs, and forget the difference illuminated by Scrooge's question:

"Are these the shadows of what will be; or are these the shadows of what might be?

Regards,

Slim

Commentary on Global Political and Economic Events by Slim Fairview
Please also see also http://sidestreetjournal.blogspot.com  Please do click the follow button for The Journal--and please email a link to your friends.  Thank you.

Slim

Armed only with an analytical mind and the ability to speak in metaphors, I attempt to explain the events of the day as I view them through the magic glasses my parents gave me over 50 years ago. Regards, Slim

 

Now,  I am not Paul Harvey. 

However, I am open to becoming a paid commentator, columnist, or blogger.

If you’ve found anything I said to be helpful, please don’t hesitate to send me one

of those tricked-out laptops and to tuck a few dollars into the envelope along with

the thank you note.

Sincerest regards,

Slim

RR #2

Route 390

Cresco PA 18326

slimfairview@yahoo.com

Copyright © 2011 Slim Fairview