There was a time when whales were the only major source of oil in the world. A huge, expensive and dangerous industry developed to chase whales around the world and slaughter them for the oil in their blubber. At that time, it seemed like there was a shortage of whales. There were concerns about how the economy could grow without finding more whales.
This same situation is occurring today, but instead of whales it is fossil fuels. We are utterly fixated on oil as the major source of energy on earth. We are just like those people in early America wondering if we were going to have to go to war over whales. George W. Bush and the neocons have successful spent more than $479,769,782,781 dollars chasing whales in the Middle East.
According to a new article in Scientific American “the energy in sunlight striking the earth for 40 minutes is equivalent to global energy consumption for a year.” Read that again. There is no energy shortage on earth.
The article outlines a plan for the USA to be powered solely by solar energy by 2050. The government investment in their plan is $400 billion, a number eerily similar to the cost of the Iraq war. In just a few years, nation-building in  Iraq has cost as much as a 40-year plan to get the USA completely energy independent.
Anybody serious about national security has to be serious about energy independence. Our priorities are completely screwed up. We should stop helping oil companies and start investing in renewable energy. The most expensive energy on earth is the energy we need to send our military to protect.
Now, just after the Winter Solstice, when the sun is coming back to us northerners, it is a perfect time to remind you: there is only one long-term solution to our energy problems. The sun.
lolife 