We are not addicted to oil.

El_Kabong

Meatwagon wrote:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/06/30/film.electric.reut/index.html It's a lack of options more than anything. Big oil is addicted to money, so our options are few. What gets me is that the technology has been around for us to use, but auto makers drag their ass to put it on the market. C'mon conspiracy people, bring us some goods on the matter!!

and the politicians are addicted to their money
http://opensecrets.org/industries/indus.asp?Ind=E01

the oil and gas industry have 'donated' $950,575,378 just in these past 6 years, $21,859,547 in 98...does anyone honestly think they give this money w/o expecting anything in return??

pjalive21

Jim Colyer wrote:

We are not addicted to oil. We are addicted to taking our kids to school, driving our parents to their doctors and transporting food from farms to cities. When crude exceeds $75 a barrel, it becomes increasingly expensive to perform these tasks. We need to exhaust all options. We need to conserve, make optimum use of our resources. We need to continue to import foreign oil while expanding off-shore drilling at home. We need to drill in Alaska. We need an ongoing effort to develop alternative fuels for the future.

have you been to a gas station lately? especially when gas goes down a few cents its a mad rush to the pump...i agree with your point about Alaska tho

like someone said above we as a nation need to cut back and find alternative methods of fuel

know1

mammasan wrote:

The public school does but my son goes to private school and they do not provide bus service.

Ahh...that's what I suspected.

Meatwagon

El_Kabong wrote:

and the politicians are addicted to their money
http://opensecrets.org/industries/indus.asp?Ind=E01

the oil and gas industry have 'donated' $950,575,378 just in these past 6 years, $21,859,547 in 98...does anyone honestly think they give this money w/o expecting anything in return??

I see what ya mean. What gets me is the transportation section. I see all 3 big auto makers on the list, but UPS is on top by far! What does UPS have to gain from all this???? You would think high fuel prices would spell out a huge loss for these guys. I wonder what kind of kick-backs they are getting???

Pearl Jam and toast

Meatwagon wrote:

I see what ya mean. What gets me is the transportation section. I see all 3 big auto makers on the list, but UPS is on top by far! What does UPS have to gain from all this???? You would think high fuel prices would spell out a huge loss for these guys. I wonder what kind of kick-backs they are getting???

As long as they bring me my vinyl Avocado unharmed i don't care

blackredyellow

know1 wrote:

I'll agree with the sentiment of the first part of your post.

Does ANYBODY let their kids walk to school or ride the bus anymore? I know some do, but there sure seems to be an increasingly large percentage who drive them.

Why is that?

When I was young (1st-6th grade), I walked to school about a mile and a portion of that was through an undeveloped park with a small woods. This was in the upper MidWest with pretty harsh winters.

Man - am I already sounding like my grandparents?

Kids don't walk anywhere, and buses stop every 10 feet now... When I was in school, the housing developement where I lived had two bus stops, one at the entrance, and one in the middle... now they stop at the end of every street (8 different places).

know1

blackredyellow wrote:

Kids don't walk anywhere, and buses stop every 10 feet now... When I was in school, the housing developement where I lived had two bus stops, one at the entrance, and one in the middle... now they stop at the end of every street (8 different places).

Heck, by the time I was in high school, the school system's buses picked up most people right at their house.

Meatwagon

Pearl Jam and toast wrote:

As long as they bring me my vinyl Avocado unharmed i don't care

I'm jealous.....

LoriDee64

Jim Colyer wrote:

We are not addicted to oil. We are addicted to taking our kids to school, driving our parents to their doctors and transporting food from farms to cities. When crude exceeds $75 a barrel, it becomes increasingly expensive to perform these tasks. We need to exhaust all options. We need to conserve, make optimum use of our resources. We need to continue to import foreign oil while expanding off-shore drilling at home. We need to drill in Alaska. We need an ongoing effort to develop alternative fuels for the future.

this guy is addicted

http://iamgeorge.blogspot.com

read from the bottom up....pretty funny...

LoriDee64

know1 wrote:

Heck, by the time I was in high school, the school system's buses picked up most people right at their house.

Yup. We walked a mile, no sidewalk, through rain, snow, heat...whatever! If the weather was really lousy, the oldest girl in the family next door drove all of us. The least we can all do now is CAR POOL and buy a Green Tag! See PJ's Activism area for more info if you are not familiar...

decides2dream

Jim Colyer wrote:

*** We need to exhaust all options. We need to conserve, make optimum use of our resources. *** We need an ongoing effort to develop alternative fuels for the future.

i agree with these two statements, particularly the conservation and the development of alternative fuel sources.

mammasan wrote:

The public school does but my son goes to private school and they do not provide bus service.

really? wow. on long island, school districts MUST provide bus service to all students, even those who attend private schools. you still pay your school taxes, your child is a student, that's a shame.

mammasan

decides2dream wrote:

i agree with these two statements, particularly the conservation and the development of alternative fuel sources.





really? wow. on long island, school districts MUST provide bus service to all students, even those who attend private schools. you still pay your school taxes, your child is a student, that's a shame.

It's not that big of a deal. His school is on my way to work so I just drop him off.

surferdude

Cosmo wrote:

We're SUPPOSED to leave the place better than the way we found it... like the way your parents did for you. We are looking to be the first generation to scuttle the place for our kids to clean up.

I think it could be easily arguedthat every generation since the industrial revolution has left a bigger mess for the next generation. Whether it be institutional fiscal mismanagement and debt, arms build up, unsustainable government programs or the environment.

polaris

surferdude wrote:

I think it could be easily arguedthat every generation since the industrial revolution has left a bigger mess for the next generation. Whether it be institutional fiscal mismanagement and debt, arms build up, unsustainable government programs or the environment.

how can anyone argue against this?

audome25

SoonForgotten2 wrote:

You need to get off your fat ass and walk somewhere. Or ride a bike. Or campaign for some form of public transport if your town lacks such.

ok so I will campaign for it and it will appear. awesome. i live in the liberal utopia of seattle, I'll be dead before they get their heads out of their asses.

decides2dream

mammasan wrote:

It's not that big of a deal. His school is on my way to work so I just drop him off.

for you it may not be...but nonetheless, i think it is to a degree. even just discussing our fuel usage, makes sense to provide bus service..and sure, as a taxpayer too. i just assumed all areas were the same in that sense. wow. do they not provide textbooks either? or what about extra special services? our public schools provide busing, all textbooks for private students and also whatever 'special needs' support a student may need/use if not available within the private school.

sorry, didn't mean to go off topic...obviously, this just surprises me.


anyway, i think ASLL of this is a very big issue. if we have learned nothing else, we should at least realize depending on a finite source for energy is foolhardy at best....and eventually, someone down the line will be forced to find a better solution, so why not now? i think it would truly make a HUGE difference.

LikeAnOcean

People have been around for nearly 1 million years. What did people do before cars a hundred years ago? Some 999,900 years with no car. 100 years with cars.. hmmm.

decides2dream

LikeAnOcean wrote:

People have been around for nearly 1 million years. What did people do before cars a hundred years ago?

so you want to go back to horse and buggy? that'll make for a helluva long commute. unless you want to completely change what our society has become, and good luck with that....makes much more sense to focus on REAL solutions, such as alternative fuel sources.

just caught your edit........um........990,000 years ago humanity didn't have jobs that they showed up for, certainly didn't travel anywhere near as much, or as often as we do now, etc. unless you are promoting we return to being hunters/gathers, etc...why not focus on what we CAN do, right now? the industrial revolution has come and gone, with it's good and bad...unless you want to somehow change all that seems silly to even focus on such.

Jam-fan

we're not addicted to oil, but the lifestyle... duh, those were my two year old cousin's first words. until we can reform this ultra-convenient lifestyle there isn't much hope for a more environmentally friendly way of life until all the oil has been depleted. That may take a long long while, and when that day comes, the damage will have been done. The real problem is that the culture we have immersed ourselves in is resistant to change. There is no way that change is gonna come unless we all make a conscious effort to do so. Just listen to "undone" and you'll understand.

decides2dream

Jam-fan wrote:

we're not addicted to oil, but the lifestyle... duh, those were my two year old cousin's first words. until we can reform this ultra-convenient lifestyle there isn't much hope for a more environmentally friendly way of life until all the oil has been depleted. That may take a long long while, and when that day comes, the damage will have been done. The real problem is that the culture we have immersed ourselves in is resistant to change. There is no way that change is gonna come unless we all make a conscious effort to do so. Just listen to "undone" and you'll understand.

do you really think it's feasible/doable, to truly change the lifestyle though? i agree, changes definitely should/can be made...but to such a degree, that i don't know. i think it is possible, at the very least, to have the lifestyle, or a similar, yet altered lifestyle...and find alternative, environmentally-friendly ways to support the lifestyle. i think it's incremental changes all the way around, and that will be most acceptable, easier to accomplish, and still very positive results. i REALLY would LOVE to see a renewable/sustainable alternate fuel source in my lifetime. i want to be driving my car on corn power before i die.