Thursday, June 10, 2010

Let that be a lesson to you

People fail to realize the true cost of burning dinosaurs. The only reason we have such antiquated technology is that no one wants to part with something familiar. Just like great grandpa clung steadfastly to the buggy whip we just can't seem to part with an industry that we know is bad for us. The economic model for fossil fuels was fine in it's day. It served it's purpose back when the population of the planet was one third what it is today. But people began to tire of seeing days with no sun with the sooty skies of the industrial revolution. It's not been until the 1960s that cities like Pittsburgh and Buffalo cleaned up their act. And why? All for a cheap source of energy but is it really that cheap when considering the costs to the environment and health?

Funny how we never hear of a disaster with "green" technology. What's the very worst that could happen with green tech? The turbine blew over and workers took three days to repair it and set it upright. Or a solar panel fell from a roof and had to be replaced. No, considering all the extras that go along with our dirty energy policies I'd say it's time to change direction. Relegate the internal combustion engine to a museum along with the horse and carriage.

For too many years there's been the attitude of out of sight out of mind. Even today if we can't bury it we dump it in the ocean. That's what Mr. Hayward would like you to believe. That if you just throw enough dispersant on the problem it will just disappear. No it won't. You can pay off as many scientists as you like to say otherwise but the ugly truth is still there floating on the surface and a drifting slimy mass underneath. And if we don't start really cleaning up this gusher then we're only trying to fool ourselves into thinking it will magically go away. Maybe that's what the plan is now to wait until it drifts around Florida then out for some other sucker to deal with it like throwing your garbage over your fence and expecting your neighbor to clean it up. Why be stingy when you can share such a wealth of pollution with so many states on the eastern seaboard?

But the thing that really pisses me the most in all of this is that we have some of the technologies necessary to clean up the spill and the technologies to start a clean energy revolution but no body wants to start. They're too busy clinging to the buggy whip trying to make that last million before the oil runs out.

Now get off my lawn with those oily boots!

13 comments:

Ranch Chimp said...

Actually these are many of the same thought's I have, and I dont even know much about this stuff, but have many question's. Speaking of which Guy .... I'd like to ask one here and see what you think.

For long I have wondered about all we extract from the earth, from all the mining, to now in our own town of Dallas/Fort Worth ( and other region's), over 7000 or so natural gas drill site's (which made us an island of financial prosperity in this Sea of Recession) to all the billion's of barrel's of oil extracted .... we seem to extract alot, set aside burning it in fuel's .... what is happening to the earth that we have taken so much from?, those element's or whatever that been in the earth for million's of year's? Is there any chance that it will effect the ... say ... ground shifting, or cause area's to cave in .... I realize they have "filler's" and such .... but we extract alot man. And because of the extraction's what effect will that may have on eco system's? We only been heavily doing this shit for around a century or so, is why I wonder .... and look at all the damage from just using fossil fuel's for such short a time. make's me wonder what other damage's are occuring to just the land masses, even under the ocean floor's?

Thanx ........

Tim said...

Demeur
Yeah they have to drag us kicking and flailing all the way. Change? We don't want no stinking change.
Everything has to be re-thought.
We've based everything on the Automobile. We have to drive to get to just about everything and to go anywhere. That's got to change. We need rail. I would also like to see trollys. Let's recapture the excitement of citys. I could go on about this for volumes. Neighborhood stores, what a concept.
The only thing that will force us to do anything is 9.00 a gal gas.
I'm all for that.

Demeur said...

I know with coal mines they collapse the mine when they finish otherwise you'd get some very unstable land on the surface. I don't know about oil and gas but with the pressures I'd think that water would move into the empty spaces. But you need to remember the earth is constantly shifting anyway.
What I'd like to see is the empty mine shafts used to store all the ash left when we burn coal rather than ugly toxic pools.

Tim they're doing a lot of rail here but with population growth it's like playing catch up. The problem is that most U.S. cities were set up as suburban sprawl in the 50s.
Nine dollars a gallon for gas? Our economy would come to a stop. We need to start way before that.

Randal Graves said...

That's what always makes me chuckle when pro-fossil fuel goons get histrionic.

Worst case scenario with this crap? The Gulf and worse.

Worst case scenario with green stuff? Flopping windmills, as you said.

Wankers.

jmsjoin said...

We need to use wind, sea, and every source we can. I want to see hydrogen as the new primary source, They have had a power plant for years powering houses and aa hydrogen car. I know it could be sustainable. Whoever brings the next primary source owns the future.

Life As I Know It Now said...

Relegate the internal combustion engine to a museum along with the horse and carriage.

I second the motion.

Tom Harper said...

Hey, what's the matter with the good old buggy whip? I'm still clinging to mine because it's all I know. I'll try one of those newfangled thingamajigs some other time, maybe tomorrow, but for now I'm gonna keep clinging to my teddy bear, er, buggy whip.

BBC said...

On the bright side, maybe it will reduce the populations and that is very needed. We could handle things like that if there were fewer monkeys to support. I addressed that some today on my camping blog.

What get's me is that they are pressing for more drilling in the gulf, for the jobs, boy, they sure are stupid down there.

I hope they don't start moving up here.

BBC said...

I'm not fond of horses but I'd give my truck up for pulling my camper if they let me pull it with horses or something.

But that would just piss a lot of monkeys off because I would be too slow and in their way.

I'm not in any hurry, but the rest of the world is.

BBC said...

I bought a brand new pistol today, eat your heart out. Nope, not going to join any rebellion, it's just for personal protection in a failing world... :-)

The Lawyer said...

Ugh. Unfortunately this disaster is exactly what it is going to take to make us green, notwithstanding that there is thousands of voices screaming, I told you so.

BBC said...

I'm not sure this will take us to green, judging by all I see out there. I'm pretty sure that the only thing that will take us to green is a lot of monkeys dying.

Ranch Chimp said...

Thank You Mr.Demeur, I also agree with Mr. A. Patriot as well on the hydrogen , and totally agree that we should be more diverse, sadly most of this is based strictly on money/ economic'. I even like your proposal of storing ash in mine shaft's and also as Mr.Tim talk's about on item's like mass ransport system's. We dont have any lack of idea's it appear's, just a lack of whose idea's are taken into consideration, and who control's the majority of wealth.

Thanx Guy .....