Month 5, Day 10: La La La La La La…..

Hadn’t written to the LA Times in quite a while, so I went over there, typed “climate change” in their search-bar, and got Michael Brune’s Op-Ed, “A clean-energy future, now.” Good enough for a tweaked version of the “oil is only cheap if you’re not paying attention” letter.

Michael Brune is exactly correct.  America must make a transition to clean energy without any further foot-dragging from the Oil and Coal lobbies.  For decades, fossil fuels have been considered both unlimited and inexpensive.  Both notions are wrong; “peak oil” demonstrates the limit to the world’s supply — and a long succession of disasters demonstrates that carbon-based energy sources are anything but cheap.  Sure, their initial cost is low, compared to renewables — but by the same token we could conclude that cigarettes are cheap, compared to food.  When a realistic cost analysis takes into account such things as long-term health and environmental effects, cleanup expenses and the catastrophic effects of global climate change, it becomes ever more obvious that fossil fuels are among the most expensive energy sources we have.  How much longer are we going to continue fooling ourselves?  When will we stop burning, and start learning?

Warren Senders