Read the whole storyShould the United States end its dependence on foreign oil?You have not yet voted. Go through activity
We have some of the smartest people on earth here in the US. I want to see us converting sea water into a pumpable hydrocarbon even if fuel goes to $7 a gallon. Why? If it's $7 when we get to thumb our noses at the rest of the world, then shortly thereafter it'll be $6, then $5 and keep coming on down. The only way we win the world oil issue, is to pull out of the game and do something different. Technology will win out every time. We can not compeat with the Asian market for oil, there's simply too many consumers.
by: Anonymous
i totally agree with you! we should just pull out because if we stay in the oil prices will just keep getting more and more exspencive! we need to start using new resources. 3% of proven oil reserves are here in the usa using that and new re-newable resources would give us enough energy to last us a long time.
by: Anonymous
3% will last us long enough to carry out a plan of switching to electric cars running on clean power. One way to pull out of foreign oil is to stop buying plastics. Stop using plastic bags. Stop drinking out of plastic bottles. Bring your own beverage in a non-disposable container. This is not just about cars.
We needed to listen years ago and change over to only, that is only, high breads. We are spoiled and we diserve what we are getting. I hope the price of oil keeps going up. I have the money to pay for gas in my Prius, and here in LA, it has been so wonderful to have cars off the road. WONDERFUL!!! We needed to have a whole change over in transportation in LA, but people are apathetic and need to be bottle fed. I am looking forward to the crunch and crying. Then I can do my "I told you so" dance. I saw this coming 25 yrs ago. Ha Ha!!!
by: anuj19
by: bowen15
What happened to American ingenuity? Let's make ALTERNATIVE ENERGY (hydro, solar, corn, air) common and inexpensive. We must build light rails, bike paths, sidewalks, pedestrian friendly cities and community commuter lines instead of highways. Let's divorce our kids from the notion they must drive. Businesses should encourage flex schedules and 4 day work weeks. America must remember how to sacrifice and embrace innovation. Our future depends on it.
by: Anonymous
Let's divorce our kids! Instead of blithely going from 6 billion people to 9 billion people, we ought to actively moving to 3 billion people on our way down to 1 billion people. We might still be able to get there an easier way through lowering birthrates globally. If not, we're very likely to get there through starvation and war and that's going to be pretty for us or good for the environment.
Providing greater networks for railway and public transportation should be a priority.
Another way of combating oil consumption would be to use it more efficiently. Using appliances that use less energy, insulating buildings to lose very little to no heat, and so on... All this saves money and energy in the long run. Regardless of our needs, we need to find an alternative energy source sooner or later--oil reserves won't last forever. With foreign countries industrializing and increasing their use of oil, how long can we depend on it? by: Anonymous
I completely agree with you. The problem that many people don't take into consideration is that in order to just altogether end our dependence on foreign nation for oil, drastic measures must be made within our own country.
In addition to just working diligently to find more efficient alternate energy sources, we need to work towards making compromises. This involves simple things like car-pooling to work in order to save gas. Also, this includes spending money on things we may not want to, but in the long run will help us out and the economy. As you said, saving heat with building installation and energy-efficient appliances will drastically cut back the amount of oil we as a country use.
Stupidity:Do the same thing over and hope for different results: 1976 President Jimmy Carter made an all out push to develop alternatives to oil, most of the advances made in alternatives today, are due to that short lived program BUT it was scrapped by the Reagan administration, so here we are 30 years later, square 1, voting the SAME oil interests to power,and wondering what went wrong?. We certainly got very smart people that can come up with alternatives to oil, but as a people are we ready to do what it takes? are we ready in the next gerneral election to dump this bastards we elected, buy small cars, work near home, and use public transportation? Are we as a people that smart? You tell me
by: Anonymous
Personally, I don't think it's that difficult to curb this addiction, it just involves sacrificing the tiniest bit of convenience. I ride a bike to/from work (2 miles each way) every day and I walk to my night classes (1/2 mile away) - not only is it good on my wallet and the environment, its a great way to stay in shape! When I moved to Phoenix, I made a conscious choice to live near my daily activities. If anyone knows the Phoenix area, it is a sprawling metropolitan area that is full of single family subdivisions, with horrible rush hour traffic in all directions. All I had to do is live near my activities.. not too hard! NYC has the right idea - build up not out, and provide efficient public tranportation!
Anyway, just because the government has been sitting on its a** all these years does not mean the technology is unavailable. Read the link below for an interesting perspective - although I like the idea of government taking a leadership role, the private sector can help too. The problem with our refusal to end our addiction to dirty fuels (coal included) is that there are so many externalized costs that are not taken into account. Removing EPA standards (which are so weak already) will only exacerbate these problems. We don't need more children with asthma, more ground layer ozone, or more acid rain. I think there is a growing movement amount younger people (I'm only 22) that we need to do something about this. We're too trained in the habits of our parents - drive to the mall, drive to the store, drive to the movies, drive everywhere! But especially among the people I went to college with, we recognize that current habits are screwing us all. Look out world - we will make clean energy cheap, reliable, and available to everyone! Who needs massive SUVs whose gas costs go to supplement petrodictators in foreign regimes?? Keep the innovation and money here in the US, and we can export our technology to the world! http://www...wanted=all by: Gerald.Richards
A little known fact is that there is as much refinable hydrocarbon liquid roughly equivalent to diesel fuel in so called "oil shale" in western Colorado, northeastern Utah and southwestern Wyoming as there is crude oil reserve in the Middle East. For that reason I am unpersuaded by arguments that we lack the resource in the ground to accomplish oil independence. With 300 years of oil reserve at present domestic use rates in oil shale, we have time to get to work on creating the public transport systems for the nation and design and create efficient electricial devices to begin to replace oil driven vehicles. We need to focus the attentiion of the nation on this issue and elect real leaders to public office who will help make the hard decisions needed to begin this process in earnest.
by: Anonymous
We passed law to end the use leaded gas in the 70's and we stopped. We pass law to switch over to all digital public broadcasting and we switched. Now we need our government to divorce big oil and pass the next law to end the use of oil in private transport. If you pass it they will do it.
by: Meghan Laslocky, KQED
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