Kakahead

Because it’s so terrible I’ve purposely avoided writing about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  How can one even begin to describe the extreme sadness such a terrible disaster brings?  And I’m not even a gulf coast resident!

I’m not going to restate the obvious about how we need to plug the leak forever and clean up the mess like a month ago.  Instead, I’ll jump on the much less popular bandwagon regarding how such a horrible spill could occur in the first place.

Never mind the suspected safety shortcuts that congress is digging into.  The bottom line is this:  our society is addicted to petroleum.  Not sure if you’ve ever met a heroin addict or maybe really learned what addiction is all about; but for practicing addicts one thing is always true:  they engage in destructive behavior and ignore the consequences.

That is of course until they get caught.

We’ve been caught.  From what I can tell, the only reason we have such a disaster in the gulf is because we allow offshore drilling.  Why do we allow offshore drilling?  Because we consume a lot of oil; and if we didn’t drill offshore it would be more expensive.  Then we’d be forced to do silly things like try to use less energy and hunt busily for alternative methods of meeting our energy needs.

Boy would that be stupid or what??   A totally crazy and brand new idea:  create much needed jobs here at home; slow climate change, and clean up the planet all in one fell swoop.  Pretty ridiculous logic, eh?

Anyone remember that high gas prices during the Arab Oil Embargo were what prompted the promotion of ethanol and biodiesel?  Don’t get me wrong, the internal combustion engine is probably not a viable solution for the long term.   However, such alternatives coupled with wind and solar energy and conservation can get us moving in the right direction…

“Who has all these lights on in the house???  Whaddya think, we own the power company??”  Mom and Dad used to yell stuff like this at us when we were kids.   I’m sad to admit I commute to work; but I do try to save fuel by driving under the speed limit (40 mpg @ 65 mph).  And we don’t leave the electronics on at home when nobody is listening, watching, or computing or whatever.

I grew up with a wonderful comic strip called “Pogo” by Walt Kelly.   One of my favorite quotes is Pogo complaining about the follies of human nature, “WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US.”

Ain’t it the truth.