Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Going Green: A 'No Brainer'

The most profitable corporations in world history have made 'bank' primarily on fossil fuels extracted from below the Earth's surface.  

Oil, gas, and coal--all derived from the sedimentation of fossils over the course of millions of years--are finite resources.  The supply of these resources are not endless.


How have these corporations responded to this fact?  Not by investing in the research and development of renewable sources of energy--solar, wind, and hydro-power; but instead by investing in ever more intensive and harmful extraction methods like hydraulic fracturing aka 'fracking,' offshore drilling in pristine areas (Artic Ocean) and at depths previously untested. And since the supplies of 'light' and 'sweet' crude are already low, oil companies are now extracting oil sands aka "tar sands" by ripping up old-growth forests--perhaps the most efficient means by which Earth naturally absorbs carbon emissions.


Even worse, industries predicated on fossil fuels have invested heavily in disinformation campaigns designed to confuse the public.  Once scientists began to explore the climate impacts of burning fossil fuels, these industries commissioned 'scientific' studies to convince the public that warnings from scientists about global warming/climate change were a hoax.


And they got Madison Avenue involved to convince us that the fossil fuel industries were working on "clean technologies." Suddenly our politicians were mouthing their scripts.  


Of course coal ash spills into the Liberty River (Kingston, TN) and Dan River (North Carolina) betray "clean coal" as a lie. 


Communities surrounding these rivers are not alone: check to see if a coal ash pond exists near you). The fracking process renders "natural gas" completely unnatural given the threat it poses to groundwater and 'frac sands' it leaves in its wake.  


Our only solution is to 'flip the script'--away from fossil fuels; towards truly clean and sustainable energy sources like solar, wind, and hydro-power.   The technology is already in place to make this happen.  The oil and gas industries are using every possible dollar lobbying to thwart this, however; and wrecking the planet in the process.  

Since political and market forces are weighted against this critical paradigm shift, I've decided to do everything I can to increase market demand for renewable energy sources. We need to send the only message industry understands: market demand.  I hope you'll join me in this endeavor.




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