[Mb-civic] (no subject)

[Hawaiipolo at cs.com]

Subj:    Re: (no subject)   
Date:   3/31/2005 1:40:10 PM Hawaiian Standard Time 
From:   michael at michaelbutler.com   
To: Hawaiipolo at cs.com   
Received from Internet: click here for more information 
    


BB,

You would do me a great favor if you would post your stuff directly to Civic
<mb-civic at islandlists.com>
Also put the title in the Subject Line.
Hope you can do it.

Thanks Bear

>
>Going Geo-Green
>By Kelpie Wilson
>t r u t h o u t | Perspective
>
>Thursday 31 March 2005
>
>"I am a geo-green," says New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who has
>written a series of columns expounding his "geo-green" stance. Geo-greens, 
he
>says, combine geopolitics with green strategies - specifically in the 
context
>of 
>the Middle East and terrorism.
>
>Friedman says that Bush's failure to advocate conservation and renewable
>energy results in a "no mullah left behind" policy. By refusing to conserve,
>America ensures high oil prices that keep the regimes of Iran and Saudi 
Arabia
>flooded with cash and resistant to democratic reform.
>
>What Friedman neglects to say is that these same windfall profits are also
>landing in the laps of western oil companies. Look at Exxon-Mobil: now 
valued
>at 
>more than $400 billion, it is the world's most profitable corporation.
>Friedman also continues to spin the fantasy that Bush's Iraq invasion has
>helped to 
>bring democracy to the Middle East, but his geo-green idea, at least, makes
>perfect sense. 
>
>Friedman has addressed his plea to Bush and the neocons, and some neocons 
are
>already with him. Former CIA director James Woolsey owns a Prius and has 
been
>outspoken about the need to promote energy independence as a national
>security strategy.
>
>Woolsey is not the only conservative who is going geo-green. Here's some 
news
>for my friends in the biodiesel movement: the Red State folks are fascinated
>by your veggie mobiles. See this blog post at Redstate.com . They detect a
>whiff of the French about you that goes beyond your French fry oil, they 
laugh
>at 
>your goatees and wonder if you wash, but they are intrigued. Some of them 
are
>even brave enough to consider Friedman's idea of a dollar a gallon gas tax 
to
>help wean us from petroleum.
>
>On March 14th, ultraconservative congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) gave a
>presentation on the House floor on the topic of Peak Oil. Peak Oil is the
>theory 
>that all of the significant petroleum reserves have already been located and
>that we have now used up about half of that 2000 gigabarrel legacy from the
>Earth's past. Because the last 1000 gigabarrels will be increasingly hard to
>extract, the era of cheap oil is over, starting now. Bartlett explained the
>dangers of the intersecting curves of rising demand and falling production. 
He
>even 
>advanced the heretical notion that "Š transition to sustainability will not
>happen if left to market forces alone."
>
>Friedman has called for "making energy independence our generation's moon
>shot." He's not the only one with this idea. A non-profit group called the
>Apollo 
>Alliance has already built the launch pad. They propose a renewable energy
>investment program of $30 billion a year for ten years that would create 
more
>than 3.3 million jobs and produce $284 billion in net energy cost savings.
>
>Apollo has teamed up with Set America Free, a group headed by right-wingers
>like Richard Perle protégé Frank Gaffney. Set America Free advocates a crash
>program of alternative fuels development centered on the 500 mpg car - a
>plug-in 
>hybrid vehicle that fills up both at the gas pump and the wall plug. It 
could
>easily run on ethanol or biodiesel as well.
>
>Gaffney and his neocon colleagues at Set America Free are clearly worried
>about more than the Islamists. In a recent column, Gaffney said, "Š we are
>likely 
>to find increasing competition from China for limited oil will become a 
flash
>point for future conflict, if not an actual causus belli."
>
>So where are the Democratic voices linking energy conservation and national
>security? With awareness of Peak Oil rising along with prices at the pump,
>it's 
>time for Democrats to make it clear they are leading the charge for the
>geo-green strategy. They might even want to call it "energy security."
>
>Energy security is the big tent that the Dems desperately need, because
>energy security encompasses just about everything. For starters, take the
>economy, 
>which is starting to bog down under escalating energy prices. Diverting 
money
>that would go to ayatollahs and sultans (as well as to oil company CEOs and
>wealthy investors, by the way) and pumping it into renewable energy programs
>would create jobs and lower future energy prices.
>
>And saving the economy through energy security might well be the REAL
>salvation of social security.
>
>There is no doubt that the environment is much better served by achieving
>long-term energy security. Eventually we will have to give up fossil fuels
>altogether, and if we can make the transition sooner rather than later, we 
may
>be 
>able to avoid the worst effects of global warming. Drilling, spilling, 
mining,
>refining and burning oil, coal and gas also take a hefty toll on our health.
>Fetal brain damage from mercury pollution, asthma, heart disease and cancer
>are 
>the wages of our sin. Religion, too, fits under this big tent. Some 
Christians
>have started a "What Would Jesus Drive" (WWJD) campaign to encourage us to
>make a deeper commitment to earth stewardship. Many faiths have a green core
>that will embrace geo-green ideas.
>
>Every time I hear John Kerry talk about dipping into the Strategic Petroleum
>Reserve to ease gas prices, I cringe. Democrats need to get over their fear 
of
>asking for a national sacrifice. How can Americans be willing to send our
>young people to die in Iraq but refuse to sacrifice one bit of our comfort 
and
>convenience to help the cause? Jimmy Carter's cardigan hangs over the
>Democrats 
>like a shroud. But times are different now. When Reagan turned the 
thermostat
>back up at the White House and ripped the solar panels off the roof, the oil
>boom of the 1980s was about to begin. There will never be another oil boom.
>
>Next week, when Congress returns from Easter recess, it will begin to take 
up
>the President's energy bill. There is no indication at this point of any
>significant change from last year's version, which devoted two dollars out 
of
>every three to oil, coal, gas and nuclear subsidies.
>
>The Democrats need to stand tall for energy security. And along with any
>conservatives who, living up to their name, believe in conservation, they 
can
>point the way to a green future that just maybe, if we are blessed with a 
bit
>of 
>foresight and courage, awaits us all.
>
>
>
>Kelpie Wilson is the t r u t h o u t environment editor. A veteran forest
>protection activist and mechanical engineer, she writes from her 
solar-powered
>cabin in the Siskiyou Mountains of southwest Oregon. -------
>
>Jump to today's TO Features:
>
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