People may wish that the fuel tanks on the automobile they drive were full of gas. Yet, recently, due to the rising price of petroleum, many crude containers are empty. American citizens feel the crunch, the energy, and economic crunch. They have cried. They clamored. The public craves attention for what they think is issue number one, the cost of Texas Tea, Alaskan oil, and fossil fuels from foreign sources. John McCain hears the call. His Vice Presidential pick, Sarah Palin feels the pain of the poor persons, of all Americans, who scream for relief at the pump. Even Barack Obama has proposed a compromise on a previously held position.
Politicians, sensitive to the pleas hope to provide more petroleum to the people of the United States. They offer plan after plan. Nuclear power will ease the pain at the pump. Offshore oil drilling will end a dependence on oil from overseas. Each energy initiative is an attempt to appease an anxious electorate.
What is not said is that fission produces electricity. It does not drive our cars. Domestic resources for electrical power are abundant. The supply Americans rely on could be cleaner; however, that topic will wait for another time and treatise.
Today, while the evidence suggests, Americans will not reap an instantaneous reprieve from the crude crisis, or any real relief at all if the Outer Continental Shelf is probed for petroleum, the public, politicians, and the press continue to focus on what each hopes is the cherished find. None seem to reflect upon the fragile balance of Mother Earth.
As the cost of oil climbs and affordable creature comforts fall from view, the environment has become less of a consideration. Americans who grapple with what is of greater importance to them, economics, or the cash that helps create a cozy lifestyle conclude consumption is preferred to conservation.
Perchance that is why the press is able to alter the conversation.
To care for the planet's preservation seems beyond the scope of human nature. Indeed, to think that a single human might affect the milieu seems silly to those who are besieged with the business of everyday survival. People claim to have bigger problems.
Can they pay for health care. Might someone find a cure for a husband's cancer. Will employers ship jobs overseas? Could a son or daughter be called off to war? The mortgage payment is due and there is no money in the bank. Foreclosure may be unavoidable. In the United States, there is much angst. The ecosystem and its balance are the least of the average citizens' worries.
Daily deeds are the priority. Most activities involve an automobile. In this industrialized nation, people are expected to drive to school, to work, to the mall, and to town hall. Once of age, individuals steer to the store. They visit those they adore. Most every movement is made from within a vehicle. The American people pride themselves on their mobility.
For more than a century fuel was cheap and the possibility for travel endless. Thus, today, people ask why did this change. Most Americans are certain ethanol need not be so expensive. They care not of the climate crisis. They are convinced such a conjecture is but a hoax.
The press promotes the view politicians control the cost of petrol. The public is persuaded. Polls pass for "demonstrable facts." Then, the media draws an artificial analogy. The message is massaged.
David Fiderer, a Huffington Post Journalist, and an Energy Banker, explains;, the media manages the gaseous discussion. Correspondents carry the communication as calculated. Science is not stressed in the search for solutions to the propulsion problem. Minds are maneuvered to the advantage of a political Party. The press is the source of a less than productive discussion of the energy policy. Might Americans inquire, who manipulates the media or owns the message.
In an American Public Radio broadcast of On the Media, aired August 29, 2008, this expert on the effect of energy economics helps to provide perspective.
Please listen to David Fiderer as he opens a window into the world of fuel and finances.
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