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  1. #14
    Jillian & Allison's Daddy Senior Member Don Corleone's Avatar
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    Default Re: I dont get it

    Quote Originally Posted by Odin




    America looses too, there is a multi billion dollar industry around oil based products. Lets say we decrease oil consumption by 25%, so what happens to the gas stations that are now full service marts, coffee shops and subshops combined?

    Decreasing oil consumption will have a negative effect on the U.S. economy, take that to the bank (pun intended.)
    I disagree with this. Gasoline could easily be replaced by other vehicle fuel commodities at service stations. They switched over from leaded to unleaded gasoline in the 70s. It wouldn't be all that hard to switch over to electricity, or whatever other fuel medium keeps vehicles going in the coming technological generation. EA had the gist of it, show a way to make money doing it and industry will arise, almost overnight, to serve that market segment. That's the thing about us capitalistas... we grow like weeds, in more ways than one.

    As for a 'global cabal', I think we're trying to create a boogeyman because a malevolent body is less scary than the truth. Inertia, and our own short-sightedness are what hold us back. You talk about oil companies buying the rights to higher efficiency combustion engines, just to shelve them. Baloney. Do you really think Ford and GM would let themselves go under (and they are) just to keep their friends in the oil industry happy? And why are Toyota and Honda impervious from the affects of this cabal?

    The truth is until it becomes painful for us to use large quantities of petroleum, we will continue to do so. As much as I hate opening my wallet, the fact is, high prices are what it takes. I live 30 miles away from where I work, in a rather rural area. Yet the price of gas was enough to make even me adopt carpooling.

    But I agree with Lemur. We're all ignoring the 800lb gorilla in the room. If the goal is reduce greenhouse gasses and carbon emission, then we have to tackle fossil fuel power generation stations (and hopefully increase our use of nuclear energy). The very fact you never hear people complaining about 'big coal' suggests that if there are global cabals manipulating public debate, the coalmmen are much better at it than the oilmen.

    As for the whole climate shift versus extreme weather patterns...are there objective numbers on 1) just how much of the global climate shift is caused by man's activities (I thought it was <5%) ? and 2) as I understand it, our climate has shifted by 1.5 degrees over the past 60 years. Now I'm old enough to remember when we went through a chilly period in the 70s/early 80s, and all the scientists were claiming we had artificially created an ice age. Is there any hard data on just how much the climate change is really impacting severe weather patterns, and are our weather patterns really more severe than they normally are? Or is this just more of the usual scare tactics?
    Last edited by Don Corleone; 06-11-2007 at 16:23.
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