Friday, November 7, 2008

Drill Baby Drill!



Did you happen to see any of the Republican National Convention or any of the McCain rallies where the crowds would start chanting, "Drill Baby, Drill?" Apparently, the Republicans thought this was really cool and inspiring. They also thought this was a good way to reduce our dependency on foreign oil. The biggest problem, of course, is that oil is a non-renewable resource and drilling for more solves nothing.

In fact, drilling for more only hurts our environment in so many ways that it beggars description. Oil spills, waste, massive electrical consumption and a host of other issues are all overlooked to eke out the remainder of the earth's oil reserves. If the ocean happens to be deep where the company wants to drill, then you are looking at tons of concrete that needs to be poured and this results in even more pollution. Concrete manufacturing is responsible for 7-10% of GLOBAL CO2 emissions, so you see the dilemma.

What is it going to take for the leaders in Washington to find a spine and get some legislation enacted that will begin weaning us off oil? At this point, even if we drill, there is no way to meet our current demand domestically, so another option is needed. Options such as wind and solar and geothermal all come to mind.

At any rate, offshore drilling is not the answer even though so many people call for it.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Just watch the death and destruction due to petroleum-fed fires. It's almost a daily occurrence on our local Los Angeles freeways. How about yours?

Jabroni said...

You know, I have read about these on other forums but have never eyewitnessed such a thing. I live in central Ohio and maybe come across one fire every year.

I get all four of the LA networks via Directv, maybe I need to start recording the local news!