I can't tell you how sad I am to read the details unfolding from the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. Not only did 11 workers lose their life in the explosion days ago, but now an oil spill bigger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined is killing plants and animals off the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama coast.
Unlike the usual oil spill when a tanker runs aground and spills a specific amount of oil from its hull, this oil spill has no sign of stopping anytime soon. In our mad race to get oil from more and more difficult geological formations, we have created a problem that has no easy fix. Will the 5,000 barrels of crude oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico every day stop in three weeks or three months? BP isn't saying, maybe because they don't know...
If it continues flowing for two months, this oil spill will be worse than the Exxon Valdez disaster. A generation of fishermen lost their livelihoods around Valdez, Alaska, and now a similar story may be unfolding for the shrimpers of the Gulf.
And Obama was recently talking about expanding offshore oil drilling as part of a "clean energy platform." Dear President, please recognize (unlike your predecessor) that you made a mistake and help our country move forward.
We have to move away from consuming oil. It's not only expensive as gasoline prices get close to $3 per gallon, but it is contributing to far too many problems to continue business as usual. Gulf of Mexico oil producers haven't been paying royalties due to a loophole that your predecessors were too weak to fix. Will you finally take Representative Markey's advice and push hard to remove the loophole? These oil companies are making billions of dollars of profit every quarter while our Earth gets hotter and many of our cities remain veiled in smog. BP made over $6 billion in the first three months of this year, so they shouldn't have any trouble sharing some of their wealth after creating such a disaster for our country.
We need to go to the root of the problem and dramatically lower our consumption of oil. We need to put more serious resources into establishing a safe and accessible bicycling and walking network in communities across the country, and the East Coast Greenway is ready to help lead the charge.
Let's all be the change we want to see in the world, as Gandhi said, and bicycle and walk rather than drive. If you care about your own health, wildlife in our oceans, your account balance - please join the East Coast Greenway in its effort to build an alternative to our nation's oil addiction.
Together, we can change America and inspire climate and environmental progress worldwide.
Onwards,
Dennis Markatos-Soriano
Follow Dennis Markatos on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ECgreenway
Rev. Fletcher Harper: Silence, God, and the Gulf Coast Oil Spill
The world's religious traditions teach that we owe respect and care to the earth, to our own bodies, and to the world's most vulnerable communities. In the wake of the Gulf oil spill, it's time to listen to these traditions, to strengthen our resolve, and to act.
If a wind turbine were to blow up in Kansas,... what would be the most catastrophic and widespread environmental impact one can imagine? What is the worst natural disaster one can imagine resulting from a solar energy installation or even a solar cell manufacturing plant?
Oil and to some extent Natural Gas and Coal are only cheap when society ignores the hidden costs of burning Oil and of extracting these from the environment.
I will be working even harder on saving up for my Solar Cells for my home now than I was before.
-Do you buy any goods from any store? Those products where shipped/flown/driven to your location for your purchase, so you are causing oil usage by purchasing them.
-Do you watch TV, movies, listen to radio, use phones, internet, get mail? All of these have so many ties to oil consumptions it would take to long to list. But your involvement in them means you are responsible for even more oil use.
This list could go on and on. My point is, whether you choose to walk/bike has such insignificant impact when it comes to your part of US oil consumption when you consider just how much you are actually truely intertwind with fuel usage. The only way you could actually impact your share of our total usage to any significant degree is if you actually just stop existing - or move out of the US and consume elsewhere. Otherwise, saying that walking/biking is somehow your way of making a significant impact to oil usage is silly when you readily continue to do all the other things you do that involve oil consumption. Your jesture to walk/bike does however make a difference to how crowded our roads are though. Makes it easier for me to get around in my SUV without you on the road. So thanks for that I guess.
Let's make the East Coast Greenway the beginning of a national transportation revolution!
Can you pick me up at 6:00 on your bike, I need to be to work by 8:30 and we'll just have time to stop at 'Bucks for a cup of no foam low-fat dolphin-free 2-shot double Amerispresso...
Here are some steps to take towards zero vehicle emssion.
1. Set a target with developing nations for zero vehicle emission.
2. Development of an improve electric motor. The current electric motor design is too bulky and has a high weight to output ration. It has low starting torque. Instead of the bulky armature/field coil design a disc type armature has a higher torque and is lighter.
3. Standardize the production of vehicle battery to a common easily removal battery tray and a charging adapter.
4. Replace gas station with charging station. Where newly charged batteries can be swop for drained ones within a few minuties.
5. Introduction of solar/photo panel to be installed in houses, office buldings, parking lot etc for alernative charging.
6. Subsidize pricing for green vehcles.
7.Harness of natural resources for generation of green electric power such as wind and solar.
You get angry when someone mentions you may be using too much oil.
You see people who “want to help” as a nuisance if not an outright threat.
You are forced to make constant excuses for wild or irresponsible behavior.
You have a tenancy to blame others or situations in your life for your addiction.
You can’t stop driving for more than a few weeks.
You keep driving until you run out of oil.
But what this spill really shows it that obsessing on the last few drops of oil, will only cost more and damage the environments in ever escalating ways.
Instead, Quality of life, world stability, environmental damage should be the metric: fortunately that leads to about the same actions.
Solar, Wind and waste Bio Fuels can provide all the world energy and fuels: clean, safe, cheaper in the long run, within 12 years, and forever.
End the wars for for fossils and nukes, the oil spills, the proliferation risks, the waste problems, the mountain top destruction, the pollution of the air, water and land, and thousands more...
Serious disconnect there bro.
It becomes incumbent on us to make policy by doing what we know is right without waiting for government directives. That way we lead the government. Action rather than observation is exactly counter to the wishes of the real rulers of America. Yes, conservation is radical in our upside down world.
We know we can car pool, recycle, bike, walk, combine errands in one trip, and many other little energy saving steps this page has listed many times. To be effective we also need to encourage others to conserve. Grass roots movements have a pretty good record for bringing about change in this country.
Ride on.
No.
I'm assigned to a school 15 min. away by freeway.
I'd like nothing better than our school district to give employees who live within walking distance priority for jobs that are closest to them. But they don't work that way.
And unfortunately I cannot sell my house and buy a new house every time I'm reassigned. I've been in three different assignments in the last three years. And this year I'm split between two school, both over 10 miles away from my house.
I have to work to pay the mortgage and to eat. It's just not that simply to ditch the car and walk or ride a bike.
I do own a Prius. And I'll be getting an EV in a few years. I have solar panels on the roof that generate all of the electricity I use. I can add a few panels and that will take care of charging the car.
Bring our civilization into the 21st century and get away from the stupid, outdated, industrial revolution era, "everyone must travel from their homes to the factory to work every day like lemmings" mentality.
Mandate that every worker who can perform their job at home (computers and the internet have evolved to the point to support this easily), work at home THREE DAYS A WEEK. Go ahead and go into the office two days a week for critical in-person work.
No, not everyone can perform their job at home. But those who can would constitute tens of millions of workers. Each worker would save money on gas themselves, save the commuting time, save on child daycare because their kids could be at home with them on those 3 days a week, and the amount of gas/oil consumed as a nation would be hugely decreased.
There is another article currently on huffpost about telecommuting, check it out.
There are so many benefits from Eisenhower 2.0 - we do need to reach out to build public support as you say. So far, the East Coast Greenway Alliance connects almost 10,000 people - can you help us reach many more?
Onwards to a healthy, sustainable, and prosperous nation-