As I sit here in this southeastern area of the USA, without any appreciable rain for days and days--as I watch my plants die and the grass wither--as I contemplate the rather stupid argument over whether or not there is global warming--as I contemplate the reliance on fossil fuels--as I contemplalte the power there is within the global OIL market--as I think of the glimmers of possiblity of the loss of generated POWER and what it would mean, the consequences are staggering.
A few years back, there was a heat wave in Chicago, a heavily populated area, and the weak who could not afford cooling simply died from the heat. Because it was a heavy populated area, the numbers were in the hundreds, and it was newsworthy. And everybody said, "Gee, that's awful." Chicago was not alone.
http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/Update29.htmBut those in outlying districts, not among the concentrated dead, also died.
So my thoughts today are not so much about how much a gallon of gasoline costs to get to and from work, or how I can't take a vacation because fuel is too expensive, but about global warming and lack of power. This is a vision of the possible, maybe the probable.
Global warming, it is said, is a result of the excessive use of power that pollutes. But it is more than that.
http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/eiskappenman.htmlA video "Global Dimming" says more.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=39520879762623193 We are given the terror of the lunatic fringe Muslim fiends, the terror of avian flu, SARS, Lymes Disease, West Nile Virus, the terror of suitcase bombs, the terror of pandemic WMD, the terror of having to learn to German, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Arabic--due to (ha ha) occupation by a foreign country,) Athiest's trying to brain wash us, Abortionists on every block, ballistic missles, tuberculosis, aids, homosexuality, and not having enough gas for our vehicles, but---but---think about the loss of electrical power combined with global warming.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/temperature/index.html?query=NEW%20YORK%20CITY%20METROPOLITAN%20AREA&field=geo&match=exacthttp://www.city-data.com/forum/nebraska/66914-omaha-lincoln-metro-area-3.htmlJust think about it. Power companies, oil importers, oil investors, make money off of this when there is free power given us by nature, if we just were permitted to develop and use it without someone claiming ownership of sun, air and water.
Imagine a planet in the extremes of heat and cold, wet and dry, even if it is partly cyclical.
Think about a heat wave of intensity that lasts for an extended period of time. Think about not having electrical power generated by oil. Think about our lack of investment and concern for alternative sources.
Think about that, combined with a drought, in areas of heavy population.
Think about our electrical grids going down, region by region, or city by city. Imagine a city of 200,000 people, much less a city of 5 million, and what happens if there is not electrical power. Think about too little too late.
Loss of air conditioning would cause thousands of deaths. Loss of refrigeration would cause restaurants and grocery stores to watch food in their freezers and refrigerators rot. Respirators would stop. Kidney pumps would stop. Incubators would cease to heat and aearate. Cash registers would be inoperable.
We speak of politicians with "vision." I don't know what "vision" means to anyone else when the word is used in political campaigns, but no one seems to be able to have the vision to see this coming.
It is as stupid as not seeing far ahead of time what the result of the Iraq invasion would be. If one has no imagination, no ability to foresee needs and probablities, then we can just go on, pretending that there will not be a pandemic of natural deaths to the elderly, the infirm, the premature baby, the kidney dialysis patient, the starving and thirsty (included would be the wealthy with walk in freezers,) the unclean due to lack of water treatment plants, the helpless due to lack of communication, and on and on and on.
Imagine a world wide Hurricane Katrina and see if we don't have something a bit more important to consider than American Idol and Paris Hilton.
Get the picture?
Anybody, anywhere, look to the past, imagine the future, and envision the development of power resources that are renewable and freely given by nature. And resist the temptation of any human being who wants to own nature's gifts and blackmail you for your life by trying to charge you a fee for what nature offers freely.
Fields were watered by renewable energy, horses, rivers and windmills. Grain was ground. Mines were mined. The Romans, who never heard of electricity, managed to have a sewer system. The Egyptians and Aztecs, who never heard of tractors and cranes.managed to create some pretty long lasting structures.
There are other sources of power. Nature has it to offer free of charge. And no one should have the right to charge you for the air you breathe, the water you drink and the ability to live while devoting very little effort to enhance life and freedom from fear by using what nature has to offer as the threat of death.
I have gone on this rampage because I am 72 years old and in the middle of a dry heat wave, and I know, without air conditioning, I, and hundreds of thousands like me would be dead without that luxury. It isn't a matter of coddling myself. I can and do conserve, due to economic necessity (I pay or I die), and I wait until the temperatures are at or near 100 degrees before I will permit myself the luxury. If global warming continues, and we continue to depend on fossil fuels, and not using the gifts that come freely from nature as a source of power, then we can solve the Medicare/Medicaid crises very quickly. The weak will be dead. Social Security will once again have a surplus. And the "owners" of life giving power supplied by fossil fuels will continue to be enriched by the pile of corpses denied the right to life giving natural power sources which are FREE. And those sources should remainn so. We already have the tools to use those free sources, and a one time fee for the construction of natural resources is enough payment for anyone except the derangedly greedy.
Build it, invent it, sell it and let nature be used.