“A nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”
—Franklin Delano Roosevelt
We should be clear about what corn for ethanol really is—a heavily subsidized cash crop supported by a powerful lobby. It’s not a solution to high gas prices, and it will only contribute to the climate crisis while its supporters try to convince us that we’re doing something good by gassing up with it.
Fortunately, its dubious benefits have come under scrutiny from a variety of sources, and the meteoric rise in corn prices may make it a less viable alternative after all.
Nonetheless, acreage for energy is growing exponentially, and as our reliance on crops and water sources for energy increases, so does the pressure we’re placing on the planet’s surface. A car that runs on water seems like a nightmare to me. Imagine our rivers turning into fuel storage facilities!
What’s never been an option in the so-called energy policy of the Bush administration is conservation—using less, living within our energy means, changing our lives (or even moderating them) in a common effort to preserve the earth’s resources and to account for the impact when we use them.
Frank Drinkwine, chair of the Kanza Chapter of the Sierra Club, which hosted Donn Teske’s recent talk on biofuels, pointed out, “The cheapest and most environmentally friendly solution is the energy we don’t use.”
Even absent national leadership, people are increasingly making an effort to conserve, from giving up plastic bags at the grocery store to giving up SUVs.
But where is the cohesive plan, the vision, the if-we-can-put-a-man-on-the-moon-we-can-solve-this-problem leadership? In his recent speech on renewable energy at Constitution Hall in Washington, Al Gore showed such vision through his holistic approach to national security, the weakened economy, and the climate crisis—and with his challenge for America to abandon carbon-based electricity within 10 years.
“This is a generational moment,” he said. “A moment when we decide our own path and our collective fate.”
Still, as long as every politician, Republican or Democrat, who sets foot in Iowa or Nebraska or any corn-producing state thinks the way to solve the energy and climate crises—and get elected in the bargain—is to drink the ethanol Kool-Aid, our future will look dim indeed.
Bob Sommer, Midwest Voices 2008
Jimmy Carter was ....by far .....the worst president of the last 150 years.
He is also the worst ex president ever, poking his nose where he has been asked not to and siding with the terrorists we are fighting. Still he does do some great work with Habitat for Humanity....which I commend him for.
I followed your link, read the text of his message with fond remembrances of the event. I would almost suggest that if you were less than 20 during carter's presidency then you have no perspective of how awful the peanut populist was and is......but that would be as pompously idiotic as your selfish little post about gore and the net.
The flaws stick out more today than the prophecy:
Government run, government administered, fair, (in whose eyes?)conserve, sacrifice, watch the environment, we all sacrifice equally......sound like anyone we see today?
He could not get any momentum even with control of both houses and lost badly on re election as the prime interest rate hovered around 20%. He also dunderheaded Iran which led to the Ayatollah taking over which in turn led to the largest sponsorer of the terror we face today in all parts of the world ......yeah ....that's really someone to emulate.
A nice man I am sure .....just incredibly, consistently wrong.