You can drill in ANWAR when I can ban NASCAR!
April 11th 2008 02:05
If you get your "news" from FOX and Rush and all, you might be of the opinion that all we need to do to solve our energy concerns is to drill, drill, drill. That and mine more coal and build more nuclear plants. You know, all the non-sustainable practices that got us here in the first place. Most progressives favor a different approach. Whatever ideas they may hold it's a good bet liberals and progressives aren't in favor of putting an oil well every place they can stick one.
We could have been off of foreign oil by now if we would have stuck with the alternative initiatives began by Jimmy Carter. Instead, we let Ronald Reagan lead us down the road of more consumption and less foresight. We as a country decided to just let things trickle down and everything will be OK. Well, turns out not to be the case. Now our hole is deeper and the neo-cons just want to keep digging. Thinking people demand more. But until alternatives are in place, what can we do to help bridge the gap? There are choices.
I like wilderness. Don't get me wrong, I like city life too. Still, there is something about real wilderness that is beyond explanation and must be experienced to be truly known. And I don't mean from a tour bus. Get out in it, let it test you, let it fill you. I'll be damned if I will let the greed of oil companies and neo-cons destroy it. True wilderness is gone once it is taken away. By that I mean it will take decades or centuries for a wilderness to recover from development, if it ever does completely. That's why some of us don't want drilling in ANWAR. Before we get so desperate that we need to go into some of the last wilderness areas left (like ANWAR) there are other things we can do first. Here's an idea - ban NASCAR!
Think about it - how much gas is wasted each weekend by a bunch of overpaid yahoos driving in circles at high speed for 500 miles? Not to mention all the trucks and RVs that migrate from oval to oval each week! And the millions of gallons used to get 100,000 or so other yahoos out to the track and keep 'em in flat beer and hot dogs! There's some time and energy well spent, eh? Oh, yea...NASCAR is untouchable. The sacred cow of the south, just some good ol' boys havin' fun. Well, there you go. I wouldn't mind a bit. And I bet most of them don't give a damn about ANWAR as long as they can get gas to get to the next race.
I could argue that ANWAR will be there not for just us, but for generations to come in an increasingly "unwild" world. Can you say the same about NASCAR? Will it be important to anyone in 100 years? You know, the best thing to do might be to begin working together now to bring real alternatives. Do that, and maybe we can keep ANWAR and NASCAR. Easy enough, eh?
We could have been off of foreign oil by now if we would have stuck with the alternative initiatives began by Jimmy Carter. Instead, we let Ronald Reagan lead us down the road of more consumption and less foresight. We as a country decided to just let things trickle down and everything will be OK. Well, turns out not to be the case. Now our hole is deeper and the neo-cons just want to keep digging. Thinking people demand more. But until alternatives are in place, what can we do to help bridge the gap? There are choices.
I like wilderness. Don't get me wrong, I like city life too. Still, there is something about real wilderness that is beyond explanation and must be experienced to be truly known. And I don't mean from a tour bus. Get out in it, let it test you, let it fill you. I'll be damned if I will let the greed of oil companies and neo-cons destroy it. True wilderness is gone once it is taken away. By that I mean it will take decades or centuries for a wilderness to recover from development, if it ever does completely. That's why some of us don't want drilling in ANWAR. Before we get so desperate that we need to go into some of the last wilderness areas left (like ANWAR) there are other things we can do first. Here's an idea - ban NASCAR!
Think about it - how much gas is wasted each weekend by a bunch of overpaid yahoos driving in circles at high speed for 500 miles? Not to mention all the trucks and RVs that migrate from oval to oval each week! And the millions of gallons used to get 100,000 or so other yahoos out to the track and keep 'em in flat beer and hot dogs! There's some time and energy well spent, eh? Oh, yea...NASCAR is untouchable. The sacred cow of the south, just some good ol' boys havin' fun. Well, there you go. I wouldn't mind a bit. And I bet most of them don't give a damn about ANWAR as long as they can get gas to get to the next race.
I could argue that ANWAR will be there not for just us, but for generations to come in an increasingly "unwild" world. Can you say the same about NASCAR? Will it be important to anyone in 100 years? You know, the best thing to do might be to begin working together now to bring real alternatives. Do that, and maybe we can keep ANWAR and NASCAR. Easy enough, eh?
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Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
I have heard that some Americans support Bush's ideas to drill for oil there. The mind boggles.
Personally, I think we should ban NASCAR regardless...and Formula One while we're at it.
Comment by tlcorbin
Coffee Quip
Ban NASCAR, only
oh sorry, wrong quote. Are you aware that we have been drilling in ANWR (not ANWAR) for years and that those those animals wander about the area while work is ongoing? The bears are such pests, that when crews take lunches to go into the field, they carry two, one for them ~ one for the bears.
Should we utilize ANWR, yes, but only until we have an alternative fuel source to power our snow machines, boats, cars and to heat our homes.
Hiya Ruby, ANWR is at the extreme northern end of Alaska. The sites are well regulated and the environment is protected better than most would even begin to realize. And very few tourists visit the area, not even the raging enviro fringe.
We don't have a viable alternative here, natural gas is abundant but enviro-nazis would not have us utilize it, a geothermal solution may work, but the maintenance is brutally expensive. Winds turbines would get ripped apart in some areas when it blows, and solar power is only viable for part of the year.
You two can research it and debate about it if you so desire, but, it won't change the realities of life here.
Raven