Our President seems to have decided that the possible, future problem of climate change is more important than the immanent danger of terrorism. So be it. The man is decidedly bullheaded and will not be swayed from his chosen course.
The rest of us have the need for energy and there is no reason to deny that or to do without. Climate change is real and always has been. The climate this morning is different from last night and will change again tonight. On a long term scale, we simply don't know. We only have details for recent history and only vague ideas from distant history. When it comes to ancient times, it seems that we have gone through many cycles. Why? No one knows. There are theories aplenty, but they are just that theories, and are only good until the next one comes along. Even those doing the theorizing have reached no agreement, not even tentatively.
In the meantime, politically and economically, we have to tread softly, lest we offend some of the countries that are pumping the stuff like water(which, by the way, will soon be a real problem. More on that in a future post). We do not need their oil. We have vast reservoirs of oil and even larger ones of natural gas. We still have mountains of coal. Lands stripped of coal have been successfully reclaimed and we know how to pump and transport petroleum safely. If you stop and think, all of the horrific oil well accidents and tanker crashes have involved equipment operated by non-Americans. We are very, very good at what we do, so. until we get a few kinks worked out in alternative sources, get the mines and pumps working.
I really do not believe that what we burn affects the climate that much and here is why. Cows, in herds, emit, by their flatulence, a whole lot of a major greenhouse gas, methane. Now, long ago, there were herds of dinosaurs. Just imagine the amount of gas emitted by dinosaur farts. And yet, the Earth is still here and still bursting with life.
Still, no one really wants the air filled with smog, so we need to use other sources. Sun, wind, geothermal all are effective in some areas to some degree. Maybe that can be improved and we should work on that. Hydrogen has been mentioned as a possibility but it is very volatile. We would need to figure out how to tone that down a bit. Some places are using garbage to use as fuel. Rotting organic matter emits methane which can be captured and used. All of these methods should be streamlined and improved. They can help.
The real key is nuclear. Nuclear power is clean, relatively cheap, and, with proper plant maintenance, safe. The only problem is disposal of the spent, but still highly radioactive fuel rods, and critics are correct when they say that burying them in caves and abandoned mines is unacceptable. But, there is a solution. Physicists report that those rods can be recycled, the physics to do that works out nicely. All they need to do is sit down with engineers and a fair amount of money and work out the details.
In other words, instead of running around the world, trying to promote draconian environmental laws, our President could be doing something useful. Instead of crippling a shaky economy and putting more of a strain on the American middle class (what little bit is left of it) he could be convening conferences with leading scientists, engineers and businessmen and trying to find a workable solution.
As far as the climate goes, just remember this; if a herd of farting stegosaurs could not wipe out life, it is unlikely that your KIA will.
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