Goal For The Green

It’s not just at the gas pump- the price of everything is skyrocketing.  Americans are hurting badly, while expecting our government to propose a plan of action NOW.  Seems all they can do is argue and not accomplish much.

On the Democratic side of politics, they have been recreating a measure in the House to punish price gougers. The bill is aimed at curbing oil market speculation (futures trading), which is a contributing factor for the price we pay at the pump. Republicans are calling for expanded offshore drilling, which is gaining popularity with rising oil prices and gas at $4+ a gallon.  However, energy experts and geologists have stated that it would take 5-10 years for ANY oil or natural gas to be produced even if the offshore drilling ban ended tomorrow.

So, when are we ever going to see a great reduction on our dependance on oil? The crazy prices of everything are having a huge impact on our already weakened economy. Energy and the Economy are the main issues of concern to the American public, in the race for the White House.

There have been many ideas on the sounding board recently in regards to the energy crisis. They include rethinking thoughts on Nuclear power, biofuels and renewables (solar and wind power) and ending the off-shore drilling ban. Off-shore drilling, clearly is not the answer.

Ever wonder what happened to the electric car, or other great inventions that could solve this problem? Electric cars have less parts, lower maintenance costs and — umm they use no GAS. What?-no profit anymore for the automotive and oil companies. What a shame that would be!  They already are controlling world governments and monopolizing most forms of transportation,making us dependent on the liquid gold.

Large international companies have for years bought out all the patent rights for inventions that work.  They work with other large companies to maximize THEIR profits. An example of this was the railroad monopolies of the late 1800’s.  They worked with each other, instead of competitively, raising rates without regard of the people. The main goal was to maximize THEIR profits. This resulted in the Sherman Anti Trust Laws, that were created to break up the railroad monopolies and bring the prices back under control.

I realize businesses are created to make profits, but governments are supposed to make living a fair and equitable life, a right of their citizens.  What happened to our government that use to work for the good of the people, with liberty and justice for all?  We use to be a free market society, where there was fair competition. Not so anymore…. not today.

Written in association with At Cost Energy

Tomorrow is officially Summer. But, here in the Puget Sound area, we got gypped out of Spring.  We can count on one hand, well maybe not quite two hands the few days that have come close to 70 degrees.

The truth is, it has been flat out cold.  In this month of June, Fairbanks ,Alaska has already had 10 days above 70. The “Icebox of our Nation,” International Falls, Minnesota has had four days top 70 degrees so far this month.  The mercury has been topping seventy in Oslo, Norway nearly every day recently.

Even Tomsk, Russia, in Siberia was warmer than Seattle on the 10th of June. They hit the 70’s in Siberia and we were still sporting our sweatshirts and hoodies at 55 degrees. The snow plows were back out on Snoqualmie Pass, clearing another 7 inches of snow, just last week. That’s happened only two times in the last 30 years. This has been a record year for snow in our mountains.

We are praying for a slow thaw, or we will be looking at terrible flooding like we had in December. It was the worst flooding here in over 100 years.

Perhaps we shouldn’t complain too loud, at least we don’t have to be looking for relief like they were on the East Coast last week, sweltering at more than 100 degrees in places. Not to mention, an early start to the fire season in California, in April, and an already record number of hurricanes, tornados and severe storms in the Midwest, doing billions of dollars of damage.

According to the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, which is a combined effort of more than a dozen government agencies, we can expect to see more severe and intense weather patterns ocurring. There will be more severe droughts, more disastorous (stormier) storms covering wider and more diverse places,plus more and deeper flooding as part of our changing climate.  Events that are rare to an area, can and will become commonplace. A rise from moderate to high sea surface water temperatures have been linked to increasing power and more hurricane activity.  Last season there were approximately 900 hundred hurricanes, this year they are expecting at least 1800 to pass through the Midwest.  The season started in April, and as evedent by the damage so far, has been relentless.

CO2 emissions have caused the global average temperature to rise 15-60 times faster than the natural historic rate. Our Earth’s climate system is changing more rapidly than some species are able to adapt.  These changes are already affecting more than half of Earth’s wild species.  More than 16% of all coral reefs have become damaged, or even died because of high sea water temperatures. Coral reefs may even become extinct in this century, if we don’t concentrate on controlling and stabelising CO2 emissions.  There is no time to waste on this issue.  It affects all life, even our own.

There is no doubt, soaring oil prices could trigger global economic troubles – if it hasn’t already. Add to that, Japan and the U.S. have announced higher unemployment rates recently.

A statement from the five top energy consumers – the U.S., Japan, China, India and South Korea, claimed that “high prices are a menace to the world economy.”  They implied that the outrageous prices are against the better interests of both producers and consumers, and pose a “heavy burden” on developing nations. They agreed upon a solution, that more oil should be produced.  Say WHAT? When are we going to get off of oil in this country? Whatever happened to Project Independence (1974), that has now become Project Dependence?  What is behind this outrageous crisis?

Energy experts argue that most oil producers, do not have the ability to expand. Saudi Arabia, claims that there is “no oil shortage now- or in the future.” They claim they can increase their production by another 2 million barrels a day.  But, for whatever reason they are choosing not to. So, this out of control oil price spiraling, cannot be justified by the so called supply and demand theory.  We can’t blame any one political entity, or China imports, or Mexico and Venezuela for not selling to us. The problem can be blamed, however, on our own government. In particular, the CFTC (Commodities Futures Trading Commission). The government refuses to clamp down on energy futures stock trading. They allow leveraging by wide margins, based on speculation of what the markets are going to do.  It is this leveraging, that had much to do with the banking and real estate problems that have occurred in the last two years.

In the last 5-10 years there has been an influx of one billion more consumers infiltrating new and emerging markets world wide.  They are working, eating and buying more.  Because of this, there is more demand on all commodities.  This will continue to drive prices higher at many levels, no mater what we do.  Anything that can be sold on the global market will cost more. That is a fact.  From here on out, the entire world will determine what we pay for oil, gasoline, commodities and raw materials.  Gone are the days when the U.S led the global economy, and set a shining example for the world to follow. Let’s just hope we can find a way to become a self-sustaining nation once again.