I found an interesting article on the International Herald Tribune website that I thought I would share with you:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/28/opinion/edlieven.php
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Energy and the Future of the United States and the World
The time has come to talk about one of the most pressing issues of our day.
Energy, as we have come to love in this technological age, is becoming harder to come by for large portions of the world's economy. Where we are most hit is through the need for oil, primarily for gasoline, and coal and natural gas for the generation of electricity to be used in our homes. The amount of coal and natural gas we have reasonably available will last several centuries before it fully runs out, but oil is not such a vast resource as it once was. Our economies will be hit hardest by the need for oil to run the transportation infrastructure. This will be the beginning of a decline in progress for the world as it gradually comes to a halt and has to use old modes of transportation for getting around. It may not even come to that point, a peaceful one I might add. It is far more likely that the world will be in a struggle to the death for oil in places around the world and no country will be able to hide from this, not even the United States. All of this disaster can be averted if we come up with a serious alternative to oil and share it with everyone on the planet. This can be done, but there need to be some steps taken, which may be being taken right now for all we know.
The technologically advanced countries, the cream of the industrialized and developed world, are the only ones who are capable of such a technological breakthrough. The developing world and the third world will depend on this breakthrough just as much as those already advanced socially and technologically. It is likely that methods of war that we are currently unprepared for will spread around the planet like an apocalypse if we don't do something. The question is what do we do?
This question is continually being asked by the scientific community, for the one who figures out this problem is likely to be a trillionaire. So what are some of the ideas floating around right now and how seriously can they address the problem? Some of the ideas are ones many of us are already aware of: solar technology, nuclear energy, clean coal burning, hydrogen fuel cell, biodiesel, wind energy, and hydroelectric energy to name a few. A detailed assessment of the progress of many of these alternatives gives some hope, but also brings a lot of worry as well. Solar energy has the potential to solve all of our problems, but it has a problem with efficiency of energy conversion from light to electricity. Nuclear energy also has the potential to solve, or at least delay, problems for some time to come as well, but it comes with serious political and scientific issues: disposal of fissile waste, building of new fission plants, weapons potential, and scientific hurdles for efficient sustained fusion reactions. Clean coal burning could offset our problems for some time if it can be integrated into a hydrogen economy, of which there is not real infrastructure for at the moment, if some environmental issues can be worked out, as well as detailed social planning. Wind energy and hydroelectric energy are also large contributors and could be slightly greater contributors, but they fail to a address a majority of the problem. Biodiesel is promising if it can team up with bioengineering and biochemistry to develop the proper enzymes or bacteria for digesting corn and the husks into usable hydrocarbons. Clearly, we need a multipronged approach to solving the energy and fuel problems since none of these alternatives can solve the entire problem alone without either a major scientific breakthrough in the near future or serious political action.
Science is a slow process and is likely to come up with a solution some time, but we simply can't wait for that day as the situation around the world deteriorates as resource wars become more common. Our only "good" alternative is using the political process to affect change.
Whether you believe that the governments around the world are so deep in the pockets of corporations, or whether you believe they are honest and just don't know what to do or believe something else, I offer some advice to each one of you. If you believe this is a serious enough problem that one day it will affect you, for example, through the drafting of a loved one into one of these unnecessary resource wars or simply destruction of the economy and a following long term depression, I suggest you form town meetings to discuss this problem and decide whether it is serious or not, obviously I believe it is, and then go from your town meetings to influence your city, your county, your state, and then your country. Many have lost hope in this political system, but its what we have to work with and it depends on the wishes of the smallest person and their community, otherwise politicians would have no power. I don't suggest a countrywide riot to solve this problem, simply a person by person approach to debating the problem and asking for solutions to be implemented before we have to face unnecessary dangers in the future, whether it is in our generation or our grandchildren's generation.
Good luck! It all starts with you!
Energy, as we have come to love in this technological age, is becoming harder to come by for large portions of the world's economy. Where we are most hit is through the need for oil, primarily for gasoline, and coal and natural gas for the generation of electricity to be used in our homes. The amount of coal and natural gas we have reasonably available will last several centuries before it fully runs out, but oil is not such a vast resource as it once was. Our economies will be hit hardest by the need for oil to run the transportation infrastructure. This will be the beginning of a decline in progress for the world as it gradually comes to a halt and has to use old modes of transportation for getting around. It may not even come to that point, a peaceful one I might add. It is far more likely that the world will be in a struggle to the death for oil in places around the world and no country will be able to hide from this, not even the United States. All of this disaster can be averted if we come up with a serious alternative to oil and share it with everyone on the planet. This can be done, but there need to be some steps taken, which may be being taken right now for all we know.
The technologically advanced countries, the cream of the industrialized and developed world, are the only ones who are capable of such a technological breakthrough. The developing world and the third world will depend on this breakthrough just as much as those already advanced socially and technologically. It is likely that methods of war that we are currently unprepared for will spread around the planet like an apocalypse if we don't do something. The question is what do we do?
This question is continually being asked by the scientific community, for the one who figures out this problem is likely to be a trillionaire. So what are some of the ideas floating around right now and how seriously can they address the problem? Some of the ideas are ones many of us are already aware of: solar technology, nuclear energy, clean coal burning, hydrogen fuel cell, biodiesel, wind energy, and hydroelectric energy to name a few. A detailed assessment of the progress of many of these alternatives gives some hope, but also brings a lot of worry as well. Solar energy has the potential to solve all of our problems, but it has a problem with efficiency of energy conversion from light to electricity. Nuclear energy also has the potential to solve, or at least delay, problems for some time to come as well, but it comes with serious political and scientific issues: disposal of fissile waste, building of new fission plants, weapons potential, and scientific hurdles for efficient sustained fusion reactions. Clean coal burning could offset our problems for some time if it can be integrated into a hydrogen economy, of which there is not real infrastructure for at the moment, if some environmental issues can be worked out, as well as detailed social planning. Wind energy and hydroelectric energy are also large contributors and could be slightly greater contributors, but they fail to a address a majority of the problem. Biodiesel is promising if it can team up with bioengineering and biochemistry to develop the proper enzymes or bacteria for digesting corn and the husks into usable hydrocarbons. Clearly, we need a multipronged approach to solving the energy and fuel problems since none of these alternatives can solve the entire problem alone without either a major scientific breakthrough in the near future or serious political action.
Science is a slow process and is likely to come up with a solution some time, but we simply can't wait for that day as the situation around the world deteriorates as resource wars become more common. Our only "good" alternative is using the political process to affect change.
Whether you believe that the governments around the world are so deep in the pockets of corporations, or whether you believe they are honest and just don't know what to do or believe something else, I offer some advice to each one of you. If you believe this is a serious enough problem that one day it will affect you, for example, through the drafting of a loved one into one of these unnecessary resource wars or simply destruction of the economy and a following long term depression, I suggest you form town meetings to discuss this problem and decide whether it is serious or not, obviously I believe it is, and then go from your town meetings to influence your city, your county, your state, and then your country. Many have lost hope in this political system, but its what we have to work with and it depends on the wishes of the smallest person and their community, otherwise politicians would have no power. I don't suggest a countrywide riot to solve this problem, simply a person by person approach to debating the problem and asking for solutions to be implemented before we have to face unnecessary dangers in the future, whether it is in our generation or our grandchildren's generation.
Good luck! It all starts with you!
Friday, December 22, 2006
A History of God
It has been a long time since I posted, but I'm back.
I was not able to read "The Years of Rice and Salt" by Kim Stanley Robinson, but I was able to read another book that I think is worth mentioning to you readers. The book that I'm about twenty pages from finishing is "A History of God" by Karen Armstrong. I've found this book so enlightening that I could probably write hundreds of blog entries about it, but I won't and I'll let you guys discover the book for yourselves. However, you guys are welcome to talk about it here in the comments section!
This book delivers an analysis of history and religion that have yet to be matched in the books I've read over the course of my life.
The author, Karen Armstrong, is also a facinating character. She used to be a nun for the Society of the Holy Child Jesus and is quite well-read in nearly all the religions of the world. If you would like to read more about her, check out her wikipedia biography here.
I hope at some point to read "The Years of Rice and Salt," but we'll see...
I was not able to read "The Years of Rice and Salt" by Kim Stanley Robinson, but I was able to read another book that I think is worth mentioning to you readers. The book that I'm about twenty pages from finishing is "A History of God" by Karen Armstrong. I've found this book so enlightening that I could probably write hundreds of blog entries about it, but I won't and I'll let you guys discover the book for yourselves. However, you guys are welcome to talk about it here in the comments section!
This book delivers an analysis of history and religion that have yet to be matched in the books I've read over the course of my life.
The author, Karen Armstrong, is also a facinating character. She used to be a nun for the Society of the Holy Child Jesus and is quite well-read in nearly all the religions of the world. If you would like to read more about her, check out her wikipedia biography here.
I hope at some point to read "The Years of Rice and Salt," but we'll see...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)