Today, President George Bush lifted the ban on off-shore drilling here in the States. This was a monumental decision on many levels. I find it interesting, though, that this comes right after the G8 Summit's comments on human-induced climate change and a commitment by us and the other nations to reduce carbon emissions by like half by 2025.
As we begin drilling off our coasts, it proves that our president was all talk (as were probably most of the other nations). Instead of spending billions of dollars on making readily available and actually utilizing alternative energy sources, we are going to spend billions to pump more oil into the veins of our culture. The urgency to find an alternative will be diminished. And we will be in pretty much the same place we are now for years to come.
Now, I am all for doing whatever is necessary to bring gas prices down, but I don't know that more oil is going to do that. In fact, my guess is that current prices are going to become a norm. After all, they already are in other places around the world. How can we expect it to be any different for us? The answer is not more oil, but making renewable resources affordable and readily available. Wind power, solar energy, and maybe even clean coal and nuclear power as well. But more of the same is not going to give us anything but more of the same.
*******
Here is a little snippet from my journal. It is something that I started thinking about after I finished reading a chapter in The Shack.
If Jesus was a true human when He walked the Earth, and ascended to Heaven also as a true human, then that means that He is still a human to this day. So doesn't that mean that He can still show Himself as a human even now? What if He does this every day all around us?
If this is the case, then seeing God is just a matter of simply being aware of everyone around us. Jesus could be anyone. Especially since we have no idea what He actually looks like.
*******
I started a group over on Facebook called "Marriage is About Love, Not Roles." I am thinking I may do something with that in the near future. I think I am going to do some writing on the subject of what I believe makes for a strong marriage.
*******
Keep praying for my wife and I. I still have yet to find more gainful employment. I kinda need it. We need to get out of our current living arrangement for our own sake and it is impossible to do on my current salary. Just keep us in prayer.
Comments (3)
There's too much worldwide demand for it to affect the price much, but it will help us reach energy independance if we start producing plug in hybrids like the volt. If all cars were plug in hybrids, we might have just enough oil if we open up all the wells that we have available.
Most factors that are years away that could finally bring the price down are not our wells but wells that are in Brazil and other countries. The price in the short term at some point should stabilize, not because it will be affected by our drilling, but because it will eventually reach a point that is so high that is causes world wide recession. The point of wanting to drill would to keep it from getting so high that it causes that to happen. If a world wide recession does happen however, the price of gas will go down, because the growth in the world markets that is causing the shortfall in oil supply that is causing the price to increase, will diminish. That will eventually cause a fall in oil prices. Then we are back where we started from, with nothing accomplished.
I am a big supporter of plug in hybrids. But if we all start plugging in at night to charge our autos, we are going to need a heck of a lot more power generation, especially coal and nuclear. Fortunately for us, (little known fact, i.e. dirty little secret) the US is the "Saudi Arabia" of coal.
"...my guess is that current [gas] prices are going to become a norm." You're probably right, but the other fact is that we are NEVER going to get away from our need for oil. One simple reason: P-L-A-S-T-I-C-S. We depend on them for almost everything around here. Gasoline is only about 50% of a barrel of oil. That said, I'm all for finding other sources of energy to supplement the oil we have.
"Happily Married Guy" stated: the US is the "Saudi Arabia" of coal. He's right. I think I read that the state of Montana sits on top of approx 14% of the WORLD'S coal. Couple that with a process developed by a couple of German guys back in WWII --Fischer and Tropsch--and you've got yourself a very clean burning diesel fuel. Look it up; Hitler flew his air force on the stuff when the allies tried to cut off his oil supplies. We've refined the process even more since then. Also, take into account all of the oil shale in Colorado and we're pretty much set.
Brazil imports NO foreign oil. They figured out a long time ago that they could be self sufficient by supplementing their energy needs with coal and sugar cane based fuels.
Don't buy the lie that it will take "seven years" (Obama) before we would see a drop of oil from drilling what we have now. Get rid of the red tape and this thing could be solved quicker than the public is being told. How do I know? I work in the oil related field and the oil companies would love to be able to drill and produce here in the USA, but our government (for whatever reason) has bowed to the "tree huggers." In the words of Glenn Beck: "Screw the Caribou – Drill Alaska".
Here's a snippet on how the economy affects the price of oil:
Top Stories
Oil Prices Plummet $6 on Spreading Economic Fears- AP
Oil prices plunged Tuesday as worries about the nation's economic health shot to the fore and OPEC warned that high pump prices are likely to erode global demand for crude.
<li>Bernanke: Economy Faces 'Numerous Difficulties'- AP
<li>Stocks Mixed as Oil Plunges- AP
<li>Paulson Sees Mortgage Assistance as Backup- AP
<li>Euro Soars to Record High of $1.60 Against Dollar- AP
<li>GM to Cut Salaried Workers, Production, Dividend- AP
<li>Wholesale Inflation Rises by Fastest Rate in 27 Years- AP
<li>SEC Targets 'Naked' Shorting of Key Financials- Reuters
<li>Microsoft Shares Up Ahead of Thursday's Quarterly Report- AP
<li>Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft Live On the Hill- paidContent.org
» View more top stories