Why isn't anyone talking about our addiction to oil and our need to

[redstateblues]

develop alternative energy sources. All I hear is Chris Matthews bleating about Obama's failure to don a wetsuit and plug the hole.

[Subdivisions]

1. Deep-seated guilt. n/t

[rudy23]

2. Everybody's on Oil's team. Dems, Repubs, the media, etc.

Who's on our side who would talk about things like that, outside of the internet? #bummed

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Some of us have and it is not somethign people want to hear

and in the media they have an agenda at hand, and talking of our oil civilization is not it. Mind you I doubt they have even thought of it.

[johnaries]

4. Because Carter said it over 30 years ago?

:shrug:

Funny, back then there was enough of an "energy crisis" to drive oil prices up... and then suddenly we had a glut of oil and the "Annointed One" Reagan even took down the solar panels on the White House just to prove that there WAS no "energy crisis"!

Meanwhile, the Oil Companies made wild profits. They "shut down" many refineries which allowed them to control the price of gas.

If we had listened to Carter, we wouldn't be in the shit we're in. If we had listened to Gore, we'd at least have a strategy to deal with the problem left because we didn't listen to Carter.

Hindsight is 20/20.

Oh, wait - some people are re-writing history. It seems that even history is now near-sighted. Not 20/20, but now 20/50.

This is the true travesty. We passed progressive laws to avoid problems we encountered in the past. And some people want us to experience the same problems all over again (Yes, Rand and Ron Paul - I'm looking directly at you!)

[phleshdef]

5. Obama definately talked about it and heavily in the presser yesterday.

But that part of the story simply doesn't have enough sensationalism behind it.

[Subdivisions]

6. What the president said yesterday should have been a watershed moment in history. Instead

if fell on deaf ears.

[volvoblue]

7. It's more fun to grandstand and point fingers at the evil gov.

these are people who bought into the fantasy of freemarkets and evil big government. They've been paid the big bucks and are part of the money crowd.
they are the ones that praised and showered republicans like DeLay and Rove as genius and being so exciting.
so, they bought into the whole Oil is king shit and green energy is for wusses and tree huggers.

it's far more fun to dump on obama, who they do not like anyway, then to go after the beloved corporations and piss off their buddies in the gop

[Riftaxe]

8. As you type away on a petroleum based plastic

keyboard, could we not just as well talk about your addiction to oil?

[kestrel91316]

9. If you try to suggest DUers cut back on energy consumption you risk

a real ass-whooping.

Yeah, we have that kind of "Dems" right here. Shameful.

[county worker]

10. Instead of sitting in an ivory tower somewhere, let's see some of your workable

means of energy cut backs and give the percentage of change those means would likely produce at various levels of participation.

Or do you only practice holier than thouism?

[kestrel91316]

11. Oh, dear, where to start.

1) Chew on this: car-free in Los Angeles for the last 9 months. And residing within 3 miles of my office for the past 19 years.

2) Go do your own calculations. Don't presume to order me to come up with some.

3) Interested DUers can schlep on down to their local bookstore and peruse the environmental section for good books on energy conservation/green living, if they're not too lazy or self-indulgent.

4) Oh, and GFY.

[county worker]

16. You know what I mean? If there is to be real change it has to be something we can all do!

You don't have any answers. We all know there is a problem. But very few can solve it. Your riding a bike does not solve the problem of our addition to oil. It's just you riding a bike!

[kestrel91316]

20. Why on earth are you of the belief that we all need to do the exact same thing???

People need to DRIVE LESS and BUY LESS and WASTE LESS, and how they do that depends on individual circumstances.

I happen to think a vast majority of Americans are perfectly capable of cutting way back on their personal gasoline use. I also happen to think a large majority of those are too lazy and self-centered to do so.

I did not say everyone should be car-free - but you will find there are some radicals who do say just that. They hate me, too, because I'm not as radical as them. I'm used to the name-calling.

[kestrel91316]

21. Oh, BTW, why am I personally responsible for solving OUR problem???

ROFLMFAO. I do what I can. I vote for environmentalists and pro-environment legislation. Most folks who whine about the situation probably don't do even that.

The solution, however horrific, will solve itself when gas hits $10/gallon and stays there.

[kestrel91316]

12. Oh, and your response to me merely proves what I said. Did you mean

to assist me that much???

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Well the answer was expected

and you are right. You suggest the modest of life style changes and it is like you asked for their first born. Of course not everybody, but you know what I mean.

:hi:

By the way the six plus mile bike ride today to take care of errands got a little hairy...

[county worker]

17. You still don't have any solutions to a nation's oil addiction do you?

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Here are some things you can do right now

SHOP local and in season food.

Use, reuse and recycle plastic bags. Mine get reused so many times when I take them to the actual recycle place they are falling apart and by the way I prefer using cotton bags. How bout you?

I do bike when possible, otherwise we use a Hybrid vehicle and will replace the next vehicle for you guessed it, a hybrid.

We watch our electrical use

And of course this is from the top of my head.

How about you?

(Of course I realize we need systemic changes and the Mythical Market will NOT take care of it)

[earth mom]

15. Al Gore has said it numerous times but no one is listening to him because of greed and power.

:argh:

He said it AGAIN on May 8, 2010:

Unless we change our present course soon, the future of human civilization will be in dire jeopardy. ~Al Gore

The Crisis Comes Ashore
Why the oil spill could change everything.
Al GoreMay 8, 2010 | 12:00 am


The continuing undersea gusher of oil 50 miles off the shores of Louisiana is not the only source of dangerous uncontrolled pollution spewing into the environment. Worldwide, the amount of man-made CO2 being spilled every three seconds into the thin shell of atmosphere surrounding the planet equals the highest current estimate of the amount of oil spilling from the Macondo well every day. Indeed, the average American coal-fired power generating plant gushes more than three times as much global-warming pollution into the atmosphere each day—and there are over 1,400 of them.

Just as the oil companies told us that deep-water drilling was safe, they tell us that it’s perfectly all right to dump 90 million tons of CO2 into the air of the world every 24 hours. Even as the oil spill continues to grow—even as BP warns that the flow could increase multi-fold, to 60,000 barrels per day, and that it may continue for months—the head of the American Petroleum Institute, Jack Gerard, says, "Nothing has changed. When we get back to the politics of energy, oil and natural gas are essential to the economy and our way of life." His reaction reminds me of the day Elvis Presley died. Upon hearing the tragic news, Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, said, “This changes nothing.”


<snip>

I am far from the only one who believes that it is not too much of a stretch to link the ongoing wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and northwestern Pakistan—and even last week’s attempted bombing in Times Square—to a long chain of events triggered in part by our decision to allow ourselves to become so dependent on foreign oil.

<snip>

It is understandable that the administration will be focused on the immediate crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. But this is a consciousness-shifting event. It is one of those clarifying moments that brings a rare opportunity to take the longer view. Unless we change our present course soon, the future of human civilization will be in dire jeopardy. Just as we feel a sense of urgency in demanding that this ongoing oil spill be stopped, we should feel an even greater sense of urgency in demanding that the much larger and more dangerous ongoing emissions of global warming pollution must also be stopped to make the world safe from the climate crisis that is building all around us.


http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/must-read/crisis-comes-ashore
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8295573

[FBI_Un_Sub]

18. Big Oil and Big Autos

don't want to limit our heroin like addiction to gas guzzlers.

[K8-EEE]

19. Why isn't anybody talking about us being the energy hogs of the world

And mocking and turning a blind eye to every "environmental extremist" warning?

[G_j]

22. The US military is the biggest purchaser of oil in the world.

http://www.energybulletin.net/node/13199


The US military oil consumption
by Sohbet Karbuz

The US Department of Defense (DoD) is the largest oil consuming government body in the US and in the world

“Military fuel consumption makes the Department of Defense the single largest consumer of petroleum in the U.S” <1>

“Military fuel consumption for aircraft, ships, ground vehicles and facilities makes the DoD the single largest consumer of petroleum in the U.S”

According to the US Defense Energy Support Center Fact Book 2004, in Fiscal Year 2004, the US military fuel consumption increased to 144 million barrels. This is about 40 million barrels more than the average peacetime military usage.

By the way, 144 million barrels makes 395 000 barrels per day, almost as much as daily energy consumption of Greece.

The US military is the biggest purchaser of oil in the world.

In 1999 Almanac edition of the Defense Logistic Agency’s news magazine Dimensions it was stated that the DESC “purchases more light refined petroleum product than any other single organization or country in the world. With a $3.5 billion annual budget, DESC procures nearly 100 million barrels of petroleum products each year. That's enough fuel for 1,000 cars to drive around the world 4,620 times.”

..more..



http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN20416568



FACTBOX-US military fuel spending
Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:58pm EDT

U.S. military fuel consumption dwarfs energy demand in many countries around the world, adding up to nearly double the fuel use in Ireland and 20 times more than that of Iceland, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

From the start of the Iraq war in 2003 up till 2007, U.S. military fuel consumption has slipped by about 10 percent, but costs more than doubled due surging oil prices.

Following are the latest figures on the cost and amounts of fuel purchased by the U.S. military over the course of the Iraq war:

U.S. MILITARY FUEL SPENDING:^

2003: $ 5.21 billion

2007: $12.61 billion

Percentage increase: 142 percent

U.S MILITARY FUEL CONSUMPTION

2003: 145.1 million barrels

(397,500 barrels per day)

2007: 132.5 million barrels

(363,000 barrels per day)

Percentage change: -9.5 percent

2007 U.S. MILITARY FUEL CONSUMPTION EQUALS

- 90 percent more than Ireland's annual consumption

- 38 percent more than Israel's annual consumption

- 20 times Iceland's annual consumption

- 1.7 percent of U.S. annual consumption

AVERAGE ESTIMATED CRUDE OIL PRICE PER BARREL:

2003: $32.50

2007: $72.50

CRUDE OIL PRICE CHANGE SINCE BEGINNING OF IRAQ WAR:

March 19, 2003: $ 29.88*

March 19, 2008: $103.25*

Percentage increase: 245 percent


<snip>