DGDevin wrote:

Seriously, what part of "reducing" the use of fossil fuels is
escaping you? My next car is going to get at least ten miles a gallon
more than the current one because only a fool doesn't expect the
price of gas to increase over time. But I'm not suggesting I won't
have a car, and I'm not suggesting you ride a bike everywhere either
(although that would probably do both of us considerable good).

Admittedly, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels is a good idea for some.
Those to whom going green is a religious experience can feel some
accomplishment in their own personal lives while simultaneously despairing
over the state of Mother Earth. Recognizing their own contribution to the
goal of returning to the caves is insufficient, like any true believer,
they'll attempt to change the world. Regrettably, they'll have SOME success
and we'll have to make-do without 100-watt bulbs (unless we live in Texas).

By every measure, energy gulping societies are healthy, wealthy, and wise.
Conversely, those societies who gather sticks to ward off the nighttime cold
live short lives of despair, hunger, and tribulation.

What the environmentalists don't seem to understand is converting to
renewables is not a zero-sum game. EVERY move in that direction costs more
than it profits society.


Again, won't the day we can tell OPEC to go pound sand be a fine day?

It would be a fine day if every child had a pony. It's not going to happen
and it's not even a worthwhile goal. Already several countries can flip off
OPEC (i.e., Sudan, Somalia, Burma, and others).

Further, if it's such a good idea to divorce ourselves from OPEC, that could
be done today with legislation. Doing so, however, would not advance the
goals of the environmentalists inasmuch as oil is fungible. If we don't buy
oil from OPEC, we'll get it from Nigeria. Countries who were getting oil
from Nigeria will then get it from OPEC.

I do agree that riding a bike would be good for us. I recently took a plane
trip from Houston to Buffalo (five hours). Not only did I have to spend four
days in western New York but, equally bad, got hit with a deep vein
thrombosis which resulted in a pulmonary embolism! Five days in the hospital
and $70,000 later, I'm good as new. But I learned a valuable lesson.

Next time I'll consider a bicycle. Or a pony.