Interesting all the talk I’m hearing about how nuclear energy is the answer to all our energy problems. The issue of sustainability notwithstanding, how can we possibly look at an energy source that creates a toxic byproduct that we cannot neutralize? The best we can do is shoot the stuff into space, or bury it in a mountain in “someone else’s back yard.” This is the very best all the creative, innovative, inventors of our nation can do? How does this solve our energy crisis?
The answer is; it doesn’t. What it does do is create a different type of problem to solve. The problem of what to do with the toxic “junk” it leaves behind. People are so greedy, so desperate to have their every little wish fulfilled, so unable to wait, use less, spend less, live more simply that they are willing to forge ahead and leave the consequences to untold generations of the future who will have to pick up our mess. We can bury the radioactive leavings of our greed deep in a mountain’s foundation and hope that it won’t require us to look at it again for many lifetimes. We want a solution that doesn’t require us to change our lives one little bit.
While Americans are starting to make the mass move to more sustainable “greener” energies, the pendulum hasn’t swung far enough. More and more citizens have chosen to do the research, read the information and find the solutions, but it’s still not bad enough for everyone to jump on the bandwagon. As we find it harder and harder to make ends meet, more people are feeling the pinch. More folks are gasping at the price of basic necessities and as a result, are looking for answers. It’s a slow, slow process and most folks are being dragged into it kicking and screaming. The worst part of it is that the folks who need the burden eased the most are the least capable of doing so.
Ever look at the price of a hybrid? What do you think is parked in front of the minimum wage earner’s home? It’s not a Prius. Folks who spend every last cent to put food on the family table are the ones who can least afford the increase in fuel to get to and from their minimum wage paying jobs. They are the ones who can least afford the estimated 40% increase in heating costs this winter. The technologies available for alleviating the crunch aren’t available to those struggling paycheck to paycheck. They can’t afford solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal coils, or hybrid vehicles.
When the politicians who make our laws and decide their own wage are feeling the same pinch as the single mother, then we will see a major swing to investment and interest in greener living. Not before
