From Obama's Berlin speech:Now the world will watch and remember what we do here – what we do with this moment. Will we extend our hand to the people in the forgotten corners of this world who yearn for lives marked by dignity and opportunity; by security and justice? Will we lift the child in Bangladesh from poverty, shelter the refugee in Chad, and banish the scourge of AIDS in our time?
Let's focus on that child in Bangladesh...poverty can be measured in many ways, but by all estimates, Bangladesh is one of the world's poorest nations--as is Haiti.
From AP via the Chicago Tribune (free registration may be required for the link):
But right now, aid workers say, the poorest families need immediate help, and little of the promised emergency food has reached them. Most of what has made it to Haiti is stuck in port. Nearly all the rest is still inside warehouses — victim of high fuel prices emphasis mine, bad roads and a weak national government.
You see that! High fuel costs! Whether it is planting or harvesting crops, or getting crops to warehouses, and then to consumers--gasoline-powered vehicles are used in each step of the process. And when the price of gasoline goes up...what happens?
The AP article is about Haiti, but the writer could have easily substituted Bangladesh and the same point would be valid.
Controlling energy costs is not just about driving your SUV whenever and wherever you want.
Drill here. Drill now. Pay less. Feed the world.
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2 comments:
The beauties of the "free" market...
Drill here -- Oil companies are sitting on millions of acres of leases that are already approved and ready to go.
To certain point their profits are kept up if they do not drill in those places (less oil = more demand = higher price = higher profits).
Now that the price of oil has gone well over $100/barrel some oil cos. are trying to drop off-shore rigs in those unused areas... but that is costly and time-consuming.
Drill Now -- Every oil company estimate shows that it will be at least 8 years before any new off-shore rigs in those unused but pre-approved lease areas start producing.
Most oil companies have also admitted that any oil produced from those new rigs would likely go to China and India consumption anyway.
Pay Less -- See above for why that's a bogus theory.
Gas prices are starting to come down now not because we're Drilling Here and Drilling Now ... they're coming down because the oil industry helped cause an economic downturn and people are conserving fuel in order to save money.
The only way to reduce the price of oil is to increase the flow of oil. That can be done long-term by using those unused leases that oil cos. are sitting on. But it can also be done by conserving fuel and by introducing alternative energy like biofuels, ethanol, wind, solar, etc. to compete against oil in the energy market.
Feed the World -- See above for that's an illogical conclusion.
A few weeks ago the conservative partisans kept telling us food prices were going up because ethanol uses corn (which does nothing to explain why the prices of rice and eggplants and more were also increasing).
Now you're at least admitting it's because of high fuel costs. As explained above, there are other ways to reduce fuel costs both short and long term.
"The only way to reduce the price of oil is to increase the flow of oil. That can be done long-term by using those unused leases that oil cos. are sitting on. But it can also be done by conserving fuel and by introducing alternative energy like biofuels, ethanol, wind, solar, etc. to compete against oil in the energy market."
It can also be done by cutting non-essential oil use from the American lifestyle. Americans still consume 32 times more energy than most people in the world, including people in Haiti. We can all afford to cut down our consumption by driving less (or not at all), keeping vegetarian or vegan, etc.
Then we can think about redistributing the wasted energy we spend on personal transportation or the meat industry to crop production in the Third World and development there.
Anyone concerned about Haiti should donate: http://www.thepoint.com/campaigns/tuition-for-impoverished-students-in-haiti
Anyone who's also concerned about food prices should cut down on the types of food they eat and lower their energy consumption in general. The developed North is to blame for the high prices and people in developing countries shouldn't get the blunt end of the stick.
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