In our house, we purchased an old fashioned "reel" push mower--they type that uses no gas at all. I love it; it's no more difficult to use than our gas powered push mower (which is not self propelled as some models are). We're also expanding our vegetable garden so that we can have access to fresh locally grown (and therefore fossil fuel free) vegetables. Our response is to try and opt out of the yearly cycle of fluctuating (and every increasing) fuel prices. Slowly but surely we'd like to wean our family off of fossil fuels as much as we can. We have both short term and long term goals for going green.
But how is our President responding to the rising gas prices? Is he vowing to invest more money into research and development of clean and green energy such as solar, wind, hydro, or geo? No.
Here's a clip from a Washington Post article, and the link for anyone interested in reading the full article. I could rant for pages, but I will leave you to form your own opinions of the situation. I hope that you will post comments and share your thoughts and engage in a discussion of the politics involved in the environmental challenge that is our country's consumption/dependence upon fossil fuels.
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"WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama, under pressure from Republicans and the public to bring down gasoline prices, announced new measures on Saturday to expand domestic oil production in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.
High fuel prices have dented Obama's ratings in opinion polls and threaten to dampen the economic recovery that is critical to his re-election in 2012."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42706911/ns/politics/
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I see no problem in moderately increasing oil production if we are continually researching alternative energies. Oil's a fossil fuel and its inevitable that we will run out of it. If we continue to prolong the production of fossil fuels, gas prices will go up and both our economy and the oil industry will suffer. What we need to focus on as we increase oil production, as stated by the MSNBC article "Obama seeks more drilling in Alaska and Gulf of Mexico" by Jeff Mason and Tom Doggett, is making sure we are, "expanding renewable energy sources". If we do so, we will be well prepared when we no longer have fossil fuels to use as energy.
ReplyDeleteFrankly I to could easily begin and probably end up siding with the argument you've posed here. My dad drives a hybrid and manages to squeeze a mere 30 mpg's out of it (rather small amount compared to the hybrids of today). Yet, it's hard to put into words how I view Obama's actions on expanding the oil drilling in the Gulf and in Alaska, while also trying to reduce the U.S's oil consumption and increase our renewable efficiency. First off it seems a little contradictory, seeing as Obama has stated he wants to increase oil drilling yet decrease our use of oil at the same time. In the end however, my view is that Obama is so overwhelmed with the situation of reelection and foreign involvements, as well as the economy crisis that the public and respective political parties have pushed him to expand the two industries mentioned in the above article. Therefore I feel he is just rekindling problems that already exist such as one many people take exception to which is how he has been spending the U.S's money and somewhat failing to meet the expectations of the public on certain subjects relating to this country's future. Basically I believe he's just adding things to a long to do list.
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