Breaking Our Addiction to Oil
A recent editorial by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times got our attention.
In This Time is Different, Mr. Friedman makes the point that on today’s most important issues, and especially those of the environment, it is time for individuals to step up and take responsibility. He quotes a letter to the editor in the SC Beaufort Gazette in which the writer accepts blame for the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster:
“…It’s my fault because I haven’t digested the world’s in-your-face hints that maybe I ought to think about the future and change the unsustainable way I live my life. If the geopolitical, economic, and technological shifts of the 1990’s didn’t do it; if the terrorist attacks of September 11 didn’t do it; if the current economic crisis didn’t do it; perhaps this oil spill will be the catalyst for me, as a citizen, to wean myself off of my petroleum-based lifestyle”.
As Mr. Friedman points out, our thirst for oil led to drilling deep in the Gulf of Mexico – and “we expected them to take care, but when you’re drilling for oil beneath 5000 feet of water, stuff happens”.
This crisis is an opportunity. While we welcome the increased CAFE standards as a good step, the reality is it should not be up to the government to encourage us, as individuals, to live more efficiently. It really should be up each of us to make changes in our lifestyles: to drive less, with higher efficiency; to invest in our homes and cars to use less energy; and to demand from the marketplace sustainable choices.
More than anything else the Progressive Automotive X Prize is designed to show how high the bar for auto efficiency can be set, and act as a catalyst for dramatic and rapid change at a time when we can no longer afford incrementalism. Edison2 applauds the X Prize for bringing about this race for innovation and our competitors for their creativity, energy and hard work.
We can break our addition to petroleum, but to do so requires that we all take responsibility.
Efficiency, Fuels, X Prize
Reader Comments (4)
Yes, right now it is up to us to make the right choice, and it all starts with 1 person saying, “Enough is enough, and now I will do something about it.” “Why?” you might ask.“Well,” that person might say, “because there will come a tomorrow when we no longer have that choice. So I'm doing something about it now, would you like to join me?"
me, as a citizen, to wean myself off of my petroleum-based lifestyle”.
As Mr. Friedman points out, our thirst for oil led to drilling deep in the Gulf of Mexico – and “we expected them to take care, but when you’re drilling for oil beneath 5000 feet of water, stuff happens”.replca tag heuer|
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