I'm tired of hearing about our addiction to oil

We're not addicted to oil, we're addicted to getting to work, picking up groceries, going to the kids' T-ball games, visiting relatives, and heating our homes, and WE'VE BEEN GIVEN NO REASONABLE ALTERNATIVE THAT ENABLES US TO DO THESE THINGS WITHOUT USING OIL.

Yup.

Ergo, I'm not addicted.

:eyes:

Bug powder, for example, works a treat.

pretty quickly. :P

there is no safe way for me to do it and there are no facilities for me to shower in once I get there. It would be great to take one lane of highways and make them bike paths but we just wont allow it.

But it doesn't exist.

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when I had an 8 to 430 job.. it was great especially in the winter and before the 35w bridge collapse. I would sell my car in a second if I could.

Jimmy Carter was pushing us to energy independence in the 70's when we might have actually avoided world domination for oil, and what our grandchildren's climate is going to be.

And we voted for a B movie cowboy instead.
Here we are, in a free market paradise!

Look around your home and decide what you would be willing to forgo.

How much more do I have to suffer?

What I find ironic is that these same people haven't seen fit to give up their Internet access. Then again, I suppose that would leave them with nowhere to spout their opinions, other than a street corner.

I understand the arguments against SUV's and unnecessary driving, but in a lot of cases oil/gasoline usage isn't about "convenience" so much as people's basic livelihood. The alternative? Let's see... unemployed masses with no money and no food, uneducated children, people stuck in the same shithole place their entire lives... Gee, and I thought we were trying to PREVENT the U.S. from becoming a Third World nation. :P

We'll never be "given" anything by the powerful oligarchy that controls us. The only way to have anything is to TAKE it!

How to do that I don't know. But until we figure that out, we'll never have an alternative.

the big three must follow suit. I believe the GM Volt will have lithium ion cells shortly.

www.afstrinity.com

www.teslamotors.com

www.aptera.com

And progress will slow yet again as people lull themselves back to sleep.

so I wouldn't read too much into such movements. There is a steady annual cycle just due to demand variation.

but there are a lot of small decisions that we can make as individuals that would make a difference if enough people did them. I live primarily off solar energy. It took a significant initial investment but relieved me of my "addiction". When I have to drive, I use the most energy efficient car I could find. Little things that would collectively add up.

But like alot of people, I live paycheck to paycheck and there is just nothing left to save up for anything.

I have switched to drying my clothes outside, no ac and a small garden.

Some states are offering incentives and tax breaks for the initial investments, but I agree that most people can't afford it. The sad part is that those are the same people who struggle with their utility bills as well. If you live in a windy place, wind generators are pretty inexpensive.

If the government would give some assistance to solar and wind start up companies, just think of what we could do. The companies would need to agree to employ American workers and keep all manufacturing within the US. New, good paying jobs, AND renewable energy.

I can't help but think how much power could be obtained by a solar farms in death valley or other nearly uninhabitable areas.

Both are prescription pain pills that allow many to lead lives without agonizing pain, but both are also abused by those who are addicted to them. So usefulness and addiction are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Did somebody put a gun to the heads of those who bought all of those big SUVs and big trucks? When gas was cheaper these people had no trouble with those gas guzzlers or so often driving them alone just as so many chose to live far away from work because they didn't want to live in the city and it was cheap to drive.

No, we both need oil and a very good many in this country are addicted to it. Anybody who is addicted not only wants that to which they are addicted to be readily available, but to be as inexpensive as possible. There are many in this country who desperately want that one thing that will replace oil which will allow them to drive anywhere they like, whenever they like, and usually alone and it doesn't bother them if it impacts food and it price and if it causes some to go hungry.

I've used mass transit for most of the last 20 years.

Meanwhile other people in the same town are driving themselves to work (including other people who worked in the same buildings I worked in). They liked the freedom of not being tied to a schedule. It wasn't because mass transit wasn't available, it was because they preferred to drive even though they were certainly knowledgeable enough to understand pollution and other consequences of their choices.

Likewise I know lots of people driving much larger vehicles than they need. Again, they like their elbow room or they want to be the big dog in an accident. Its a choice lots of people make which they'd have to reconsider if petroleum products included the cost of the pollution they create.

My kids took the school bus to school after kindergarten. My neighbor drives her kids to middle school even though the school bus is on the next corner.

This is just a couple of examples of 'addiction to oil' choices

Admit that you are powerless over oil.

I love my family and want to be able to see them from time to time and fly out to care for them if they need help for a short period of time due to medical reasons.

perhaps you weren't there when they were passed out:



And I guess you were FORCED to live where you were instead of closer to work..........I chose to live within walking/biking distance of work and within walking distance of mass transit. This choice has had its downsides, mind you. But I have my priorities straight. Your priorities are obviously different.

Some of us are indeed addicted to our hyperconsuming oil-dependent lifestyles. And some of us are not. Your attitude is not helpful. WE NEED TO CHANGE OUR WAYS and not expect "someone" to give us what we want (which is another means to continue life without changing anything). You should know by now that we cannot expect the powers that be to solve this crisis for us. We are gonna have to do it our ownselves.

Whaddya do when your work *isn't* within walking/biking distance of ANY residential areas and NO public transportation? Don't believe me? The closest area even zoned residential to our fuel injection shop is 5+ miles of 4-lane, no sidewalk, no bikepath, no bus-route industrial park away. Quit jobs? Play frogger 5 days a week?

Or are you willing to have the unpleasant gears of the economy integrated into your neighborhood? Ever hear a 12V92 Detroit winding up at 7:00AM? A dozer's steel trackpads slappin' on the concrete outside your door? How about a lumberyard across from the coffee shop, and a concrete plant next to the day care?

And, before you point out that by working in a fuel injection shop that "I'm just a facilitator, part of the problem, blah, blah, blah," keep in mind until they aren't *needed* anymore, the damn machinery has to *run*.

Can you atleast admit that Americans by and large are lazy?

although occasionally it's difficult not to. Your living your daily life is, of course, YOUR FAULT :) as long as you drive a car. I guess because you haven't put all your other priorities behind the need to get off the grid and refuse to use hydrocarbons or any product which indirectly requires them.

I swear, this place is getting less shrill and less reasonable every week.

Of course we have alternatives-- just none that will maintain our current lifestyles. Somewhere between returning to the nineteenth century and continuing to indulge our petroleum addicted present, there are middle alternatives that conserve energy while allowing some portions of our current lifestyles to continue.

slavery and massive human rights abuses.

I don't think we really want to go BACK to that.

Or Power to the People

A coworker was telling me yesterday about a co-op where you work together to install solar energy in your homes. He was supposed to send me a link to their website but hasn't yet. Not sure if this is the one - but this looks interesting

http://www.cooppower.coop/

Goddamn the Pusher.