13 September 2007

Oil

It is a sad state. We have been warned. We are facing the double threat of global warming and the end of fossil fuels, oil in particular. We have been given an incredible gift. If we use it wisely, then we can set our world up for ever. If we squander it, then our society will go the way of the Roman Empire, Easter Island, and the Maya. We have been warned. Hubbert, Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Jared Diamond, Ed Mazria, all have or are raising the red flag, yet the world cannot seem to wait to use it up. There is no recognition that there is a problem. No one is in the least bit interested in making hard choices.

The cost of the Iraq War today is $451,200,000,000. At $100,000 per system, we could be powering 4.5 million homes using photovoltaics with that investment. The $7 trillion national debt that the Bush administration has racked up in the past 7 years be powering 70 million homes. All this would not eliminate our need for oil, but would go a long way towards reducing our dependency and creating an economy based in renewables.

In the time of the Romans, one of the worst sins that could be committed would be to squander one's patrimony. Our excessive reliance upon fossil fuels without investing them towards a sustainable future is squandering our patrimony.

10 July 2007

Vegetarianism

I am a political vegetarian. I do not believe that eating animals is morally wrong. I do believe that the current meat industrial complex is morally wrong. It is wrong on many grounds. First, the meat is not healthy to eat. Pesticides and heavy metals concentrate in the flesh and fat, antibiotics engender the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria, and the high levels of meat in the diet of the average American lead to many health problems. Second, the foul treatment of animals seen feedlot operations and factory farming, the poor treatment of land, animals, labor and communities is morally wrong. Third, the high concentration of operations and the centralization is highly energy consumptive. Fourth... I could go on and on.

Read for yourself - copy this link into your browser.

http://www.vivavegie.org/vvi/pdf/101reas2007.pdf

I eat meat, but I like to have some assurance of the quality. I typically purchase all meat products at farmers markets. I probably pay 3-5 times what it would cost in the supermarket, but our food is far too cheap.

My Whole Life by J.L. Borges

My Whole Life
Here once again the memorable lips, unique and like yours.
I kept getting close to happiness and have stood in the shadow of suffering.
I have crossed the sea.
I have known many lands; I have sen one woman and two or three men.
I have loved a girl who was fair and proud, with a Spanish quietness.
I have seen the city's edge, an endless sprawl where the sun goes down tirelessly, over and over.
I have relished many words.
I believe deeply that this is all and that I will neither see nor accomplish new things.
I believe that my days and my nights in their poverty and their riches are the equal of God's and all mine.
-Jorge Luis Borges