Getting off "foreign" oil

Lately the question of off shore drilling has become front and center in response to the "crisis" American's are facing at the gas pump. I am really quite perplexed at the entire argument that "Drill, baby, drill" will help us. How is it that people actually believe that in the 102 years since Henry Ford patented the internal combustible engine, human beings have been unable to create anything better? If we had continued on the alternative energy quest in the 1970's, our world would be a cleaner, greener place by now and we would very likely not be facing the same climate crisis we are. Alternative energy fuels and technology have been suppressed by the very oil barons and giant companies we complain about because of their record wealth and profits. Our own president and many in his party have close ties to the oil industry which continually supplies lobbyists and others to block real energy reform which will hurt their profits.

So, in the ego-centric, most painless way possible humans always do things, we look to "solve" the problem by closing our eyes and minds to real solutions and drilling oil in the last pristine wilderness places we have left on the planet. Great Idea! Let's invite the possibility of more devastating oil spills, disturb the natural chain of life, destroy more land and seascapes and further endanger the very population of plant and wildlife that keeps humans fed and breathing. For what? So people can have another fix to their addiction of SUVs and Pickup Trucks? So people can have a dollar a gallon reprieve for about 5-10 years or so until our demand once again surpasses our supply? So people can continue to walk around with blinders on that as long as they are ok, the rest of the world is too? Then what? Watch our children struggle with the same problem our parents struggled with 30 years ago and failed to solve because it required too much motivation or because of want of convenience? God forbid we make the leap and suffer the growing pains a change in fuel will cost us so our children will grow up in a world where oil is no longer king. Let's not change our habits or put our energies into really solving problems instead of whining and finding band aids for a crisis that will overtake us, no matter how much more oil we find. Why is it so difficult for people to sacrifice some prestige or convenience in the name of sustaining life on this planet through cleaner ways of doing our daily business? Why do we find it impossible to take advantage of a financial crisis to find the motivation and courage to move forward and change the world?

The argument for opening up protected lands is a shallow, pathetic, near-sighted way of convincing ourselves that the human race is not really in trouble, that our planet is not really in a crisis - all we need to do is find more oil pockets and everything will fine ...at least until those pockets run out and we find ourselves in the "enviable" position of having no alternative fuels and a shortage of oil......for the third time in a generation. How many more warnings do we need and how can people be so blind to the big picture and long-term consequences of their actions? Now that gas prices have begun to fall, I will bet that the clamor for alternative fuels will subside along with them, as it is just enough of a reprieve to allow people to bury their heads back in the sand and shut out the rest of the world again. Fear not, folks, the prices will rise again!

In the issue of energy costs, Obama has stayed somewhat true to his own beliefs and continues to tout complete energy reform – a goal that is both holistic and long term next to McCain’s temporary, incomplete and self absorbed solution of off shore drilling. Can you say "campaign tactic"? The problem here is that the American voting public is just as self-absorbed and buys into the "win at all costs" mentality that will leave us with a broken planet that cannot provide the resources necessary to sustain a capitalist economy.

It is not about getting the US off foreign oil. Its about getting the US off oil. period.