Time to Get Un-Addicted to Oil

All the hoopla about “Drill, Baby, Drill”, ignores some crucial facts. First, even if we drilled everywhere possible offshore, that oil would supply a mere 2% of US demand. Second, drilling for homegrown oil doesn’t increase our energy independence because the oil is sold on the world markets, not just to the US. Third, oil drilling increases US greenhouse gas emissions, which we can no longer afford to do.
While the path of least resistance continues to be climate change denial, it’s easy to observe the impacts. When will we connect the dots? Nashville, Tennessee is under water – they received a half year’s rain in just two days this week! In Georgia, after an unusually dry spring, they were pounded with six inches of rain in several hours. The Washington DC area was pummeled by unprecedented amounts of snow this winter and the Midwest saw historic floods. The permafrost in Alaska is melting and entire forests are falling into the water as methane escapes into the atmosphere. Wildfires in the West now occur year-round, glaciers melting worldwide, invasive insects destroying millions of acres of forests, what more evidence does it take?

At some point, denial must give way to survival instincts. The only sure-fire way to prevent tragedies like the BP Deepwater Disaster is to re-enact the offshore drilling moratorium and to replace dirty dangerous fossil fuels with clean energy.

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