Michael, that was the sentence that leapt out at me too! It’s sickening, no? “No real plans for changing course” and making sure the Earth does disappear, us and everything else along with it. We are facing doomsday, as you note. I wonder where they think they are going to spend all that money? Such a depressing way to begin this week. Have a good one, anyway.
Michael, that was the sentence that leapt out at me too! It’s sickening, no? “No real plans for changing course” and making sure the Earth does disappear, us and everything else along with it. We are facing doomsday, as you note. I wonder where they think they are going to spend all that money? Such a depressing way to begin this week. Have a good one, anyway.
But, who DOES have a real plan for changing course? Do you plan to drive your car today Elisabeth? Do you plan to drive tomorrow as well? The day after?
See the conundrum Elsabeth?? As long as YOU need to drive you car, the oil companies need to provide you with fuel. Correct?
Otherwise, Elisabeth, you will starve to death. No lie.
Imagine if the oil companies closed up shop and walked away TODAY to "save the planet"??
Three, maybe four weeks from now your neighborhood would smell awful. Dead, starved bodies everywhere. Because, the Trucks and Trains that bring food to your store?
They would stop running Elisabeth. Even if you can walk to your grocery store it would not matter.
So, OF COURSE the oil companies don't have a plan to change.
As Americans.. we must DEMAN public transportation using non-petroleum or coal energy options. Where I live in Texas, there aren’t even bike paths let alone busses or trains. I have no option to walk to a grocery store or any kind of store. Also .. I live in a subdivision and can’t have a horse here. We need public transportation, nationally.
Your observation is taken by me not as a criticism of Elisabeth (us), but to make the point that things don't change unless there is a desire down the consumption line. I observe that we make our choices, our plans, more from the options actually presented to us by the entities (policy makers, industries, scientists do development, those selling products) that are engaged in providing us a needed resource. Because the energy sector has resources to design the alternatives, I feel justified in calling them out and expecting them to make plans for switching to energy sources that don't cripple the world or result in the scenarios you suggest. Maybe, our part in demanding the alternatives is underplayed because our expectations for change are too low or simply we too readily settle for choices between the brands of beer available at the local Quick Trip.
I have been listening to the same logic for 50 years. Meanwhile, the earth is on fire. Like a frog being boiled in a pot of water. Enough is enough...then belittle a child that is trying to change. Boil away
Fred. Excellent response and thank you. No. I was not criticizing anyone. But. I was criticizing everyone.
Your argument that we are subject to big oil and so we drive sort of works. But. When the first car was invented it was universally viewed as a Godsend.
Speaking of conundrums, how and why are fossil fuel products like gasoline and diesel priced so low in comparison to their real costs? Elizabeth doesn’t pay the lobbyists and donate millions to API and other fossil fuel PACs. Methinks you are blaming the wrong people. If Elizabeth grew up and lived in a world where those socialized costs were borne directly by the producers and consumers of fossil fuels we would be living in a safer and more sustainable world today. It is not impossible but there are greed driven forces that make it very difficult. There are reasonable enough solutions to all of your above horrors intended only to frighten.
What about the 120,000 abandoned oil wells in the USA that need to be properly decommissioned? Some of those leak a lot of methane into the air. Other marginal and end-of-life wells are sold off to paper entities without assets to offload the potential financial risk from large companies.
We do need energy and it is clear that fossil fuels bootstrapped us to the life and longevity we enjoy today, but it’s not a free lunch.
Instead of looking early, as we had the perfect in fossil fuels, innovation concentrated on exploiting that resource rather than (except with some exceptions like nuclear) looking to potentially viable new sources. Difficult to replace the viable, the marketable, with something farfetched, like ... well electric or wind when it's easier to be creative, rather than inventive, with the resource or medical practice or drug or food source like beef for a sustainable solution to need we are familiar with. There is need to turn our collective minds and attitudes and probably value criteria 30° if we are to get out of most the messes of legacy solutions.
Michael, that was the sentence that leapt out at me too! It’s sickening, no? “No real plans for changing course” and making sure the Earth does disappear, us and everything else along with it. We are facing doomsday, as you note. I wonder where they think they are going to spend all that money? Such a depressing way to begin this week. Have a good one, anyway.
I was an environmental consultant for pipeline companies, I retired early because of that last sentence
Doomsday yes, but let’s make sure we keep Disney World open, the NFL going and wave the American flag!
And the guns and bibles.
yes, so sad......
OMG isn’t that the truth.
Elisabeth,
"No real plans for changing course".
But, who DOES have a real plan for changing course? Do you plan to drive your car today Elisabeth? Do you plan to drive tomorrow as well? The day after?
See the conundrum Elsabeth?? As long as YOU need to drive you car, the oil companies need to provide you with fuel. Correct?
Otherwise, Elisabeth, you will starve to death. No lie.
Imagine if the oil companies closed up shop and walked away TODAY to "save the planet"??
Three, maybe four weeks from now your neighborhood would smell awful. Dead, starved bodies everywhere. Because, the Trucks and Trains that bring food to your store?
They would stop running Elisabeth. Even if you can walk to your grocery store it would not matter.
So, OF COURSE the oil companies don't have a plan to change.
Because, neither do you or I.
We are stuck.
As Americans.. we must DEMAN public transportation using non-petroleum or coal energy options. Where I live in Texas, there aren’t even bike paths let alone busses or trains. I have no option to walk to a grocery store or any kind of store. Also .. I live in a subdivision and can’t have a horse here. We need public transportation, nationally.
Your observation is taken by me not as a criticism of Elisabeth (us), but to make the point that things don't change unless there is a desire down the consumption line. I observe that we make our choices, our plans, more from the options actually presented to us by the entities (policy makers, industries, scientists do development, those selling products) that are engaged in providing us a needed resource. Because the energy sector has resources to design the alternatives, I feel justified in calling them out and expecting them to make plans for switching to energy sources that don't cripple the world or result in the scenarios you suggest. Maybe, our part in demanding the alternatives is underplayed because our expectations for change are too low or simply we too readily settle for choices between the brands of beer available at the local Quick Trip.
I have been listening to the same logic for 50 years. Meanwhile, the earth is on fire. Like a frog being boiled in a pot of water. Enough is enough...then belittle a child that is trying to change. Boil away
Me too. Can't decide whether I am a sacrificial frog, to old and tough to bother removal from the pot in an age of microwave cooking.
No. I am belittling no one.
I am pointing out a reality.
We are all guilty. Not just those evil oil companies.
Every human being who still believes in capitalism is to blame for where we are now.
I believe in community.
Fred. Excellent response and thank you. No. I was not criticizing anyone. But. I was criticizing everyone.
Your argument that we are subject to big oil and so we drive sort of works. But. When the first car was invented it was universally viewed as a Godsend.
Everyone ran toward them. And here we are.
Guess what. They still are a Godsend. If you have a heart attack, would you want to wait for the bus?
Speaking of conundrums, how and why are fossil fuel products like gasoline and diesel priced so low in comparison to their real costs? Elizabeth doesn’t pay the lobbyists and donate millions to API and other fossil fuel PACs. Methinks you are blaming the wrong people. If Elizabeth grew up and lived in a world where those socialized costs were borne directly by the producers and consumers of fossil fuels we would be living in a safer and more sustainable world today. It is not impossible but there are greed driven forces that make it very difficult. There are reasonable enough solutions to all of your above horrors intended only to frighten.
What about the 120,000 abandoned oil wells in the USA that need to be properly decommissioned? Some of those leak a lot of methane into the air. Other marginal and end-of-life wells are sold off to paper entities without assets to offload the potential financial risk from large companies.
We do need energy and it is clear that fossil fuels bootstrapped us to the life and longevity we enjoy today, but it’s not a free lunch.
This goes directly to the flaw of subsidies continuing beyond development of a legacy resource. Well said.
Correct.
Excellent observations.
The problem is: At the outset nobody could see the environmental catastrophe that would unfold.
Now that we can our entire society is underpinned by?
Fossil Fuel.
Instead of looking early, as we had the perfect in fossil fuels, innovation concentrated on exploiting that resource rather than (except with some exceptions like nuclear) looking to potentially viable new sources. Difficult to replace the viable, the marketable, with something farfetched, like ... well electric or wind when it's easier to be creative, rather than inventive, with the resource or medical practice or drug or food source like beef for a sustainable solution to need we are familiar with. There is need to turn our collective minds and attitudes and probably value criteria 30° if we are to get out of most the messes of legacy solutions.
Actually, Mike, I don’t own a car….