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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Saturday, January 28, 2006 Clay Jenkinson on energy independence Anyone who has heard Clay Jenkinson speak knows him as a superb re-creator of Thomas Jefferson's thoughts and principles. I've listened to the Thomas Jefferson Hour on public radio for years. But it never occurred to me to look for him online until recently. When I found his website I realized what I'd been missing.Here is Clay Jenkinson on energy, from an editorial of July 4, 2004:As we approach Independence Day, nothing would be more important to the future of America than a five to ten year Manhattan-style project to establish energy independence. I am not in favor of opening ANWAR and other environmentally-sensitive American reserves. These are very short term solutions and they do not invite us to think out of the box. My idea is that we as a nation wean ourselves of oil from the Arab world, so that our foreign policy can become sane, and we can turn our back on parts of the world that wish us no happiness. Or that we can begin to respond to some of the genuine concerns of militant Islam. Their disenchantment with us seems to me almost entirely just: obscene secularity; hegemonic shallow pop culture; troops in Arab lands; our failure to support the Palestinian statehood cause; hypocrisy between our Jeffersonian rhetoric and our purely consumptive profile in the world. Elements of energy independence would include:Wind. Senator Byron Dorgan has called North Dakota the Saudi Arabia of wind. Much of the American West could be developed for wind power.Coal. I’m not a fan of coal, but we have plenty of it, and the scrubbers are much better now, and land reclamation is dramatically improved. Hydrogen. I know nothing about this but my friends who do say it is profound in its potential.Conservation. I believe SUV’s should be luxury-taxed so that no rational being would own one. I think government should require every vehicle produced after 2007 to get at least 50 miles per gallon. Hybrids should be given tax-incentives. A huge insulation and window and homebuilding energy-conservation incentive program should be created by the U.S. Government.Mass transportation. Our goal should be to have light rail, etc., in every community over 100,000 in population, and we should create incentives for people to park their cars on the periphery of cities and walk in up to two miles to work. We should follow London, England, in creating car-disincentive programs for traffic in cities.The advantage of such a program is that it would unleash the amazing creativity of the American people. It would create new environmentally-friendly industries overnight. It would get us to move our bodies more. It would restore national self-respect. It would allow us to develop a responsible foreign policy. It would bring our critics to think better of us. It would be an indication that we wish to narrow the gap between the first and third worlds, between the very rich and the very poor. Perhaps most important, it would liberate us to do the work of the soul instead of maintaining the hypermaterialistic status quo, which is poisoning the American character in every conceivable way. I'm not a fan of government incentives, not because I think they are inherently a bad idea--I don't. But they are too often used by industry to keep prices artificially high. One reason solar water heating never really caught on in the 1970's is that ordinary people couldn't afford to buy them in areas where subsidies weren't available.It is Jenkinson's last paragraph that really jumps out at me. I don't see how anyone could disagree with any sentiment expressed in it, regardless of which side of the political aisle they were on. Working as a nation toward energy independence would be a project on the scale of the space program's push for a moon landing. It would engage people's hearts and minds in a way that war cannot do. And it would be worthy of how we think about ourselves. Unfortunately, the current administration's version of energy independence is to drill in one of the few pristine wildernesses still untouched in the US. posted by Liz @ 9:22 AM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
Anyone who has heard Clay Jenkinson speak knows him as a superb re-creator of Thomas Jefferson's thoughts and principles. I've listened to the Thomas Jefferson Hour on public radio for years. But it never occurred to me to look for him online until recently. When I found his website I realized what I'd been missing.Here is Clay Jenkinson on energy, from an editorial of July 4, 2004:As we approach Independence Day, nothing would be more important to the future of America than a five to ten year Manhattan-style project to establish energy independence. I am not in favor of opening ANWAR and other environmentally-sensitive American reserves. These are very short term solutions and they do not invite us to think out of the box. My idea is that we as a nation wean ourselves of oil from the Arab world, so that our foreign policy can become sane, and we can turn our back on parts of the world that wish us no happiness. Or that we can begin to respond to some of the genuine concerns of militant Islam. Their disenchantment with us seems to me almost entirely just: obscene secularity; hegemonic shallow pop culture; troops in Arab lands; our failure to support the Palestinian statehood cause; hypocrisy between our Jeffersonian rhetoric and our purely consumptive profile in the world. Elements of energy independence would include:Wind. Senator Byron Dorgan has called North Dakota the Saudi Arabia of wind. Much of the American West could be developed for wind power.Coal. I’m not a fan of coal, but we have plenty of it, and the scrubbers are much better now, and land reclamation is dramatically improved. Hydrogen. I know nothing about this but my friends who do say it is profound in its potential.Conservation. I believe SUV’s should be luxury-taxed so that no rational being would own one. I think government should require every vehicle produced after 2007 to get at least 50 miles per gallon. Hybrids should be given tax-incentives. A huge insulation and window and homebuilding energy-conservation incentive program should be created by the U.S. Government.Mass transportation. Our goal should be to have light rail, etc., in every community over 100,000 in population, and we should create incentives for people to park their cars on the periphery of cities and walk in up to two miles to work. We should follow London, England, in creating car-disincentive programs for traffic in cities.The advantage of such a program is that it would unleash the amazing creativity of the American people. It would create new environmentally-friendly industries overnight. It would get us to move our bodies more. It would restore national self-respect. It would allow us to develop a responsible foreign policy. It would bring our critics to think better of us. It would be an indication that we wish to narrow the gap between the first and third worlds, between the very rich and the very poor. Perhaps most important, it would liberate us to do the work of the soul instead of maintaining the hypermaterialistic status quo, which is poisoning the American character in every conceivable way. I'm not a fan of government incentives, not because I think they are inherently a bad idea--I don't. But they are too often used by industry to keep prices artificially high. One reason solar water heating never really caught on in the 1970's is that ordinary people couldn't afford to buy them in areas where subsidies weren't available.It is Jenkinson's last paragraph that really jumps out at me. I don't see how anyone could disagree with any sentiment expressed in it, regardless of which side of the political aisle they were on. Working as a nation toward energy independence would be a project on the scale of the space program's push for a moon landing. It would engage people's hearts and minds in a way that war cannot do. And it would be worthy of how we think about ourselves. Unfortunately, the current administration's version of energy independence is to drill in one of the few pristine wildernesses still untouched in the US.
As we approach Independence Day, nothing would be more important to the future of America than a five to ten year Manhattan-style project to establish energy independence. I am not in favor of opening ANWAR and other environmentally-sensitive American reserves. These are very short term solutions and they do not invite us to think out of the box. My idea is that we as a nation wean ourselves of oil from the Arab world, so that our foreign policy can become sane, and we can turn our back on parts of the world that wish us no happiness. Or that we can begin to respond to some of the genuine concerns of militant Islam. Their disenchantment with us seems to me almost entirely just: obscene secularity; hegemonic shallow pop culture; troops in Arab lands; our failure to support the Palestinian statehood cause; hypocrisy between our Jeffersonian rhetoric and our purely consumptive profile in the world. Elements of energy independence would include:Wind. Senator Byron Dorgan has called North Dakota the Saudi Arabia of wind. Much of the American West could be developed for wind power.Coal. I’m not a fan of coal, but we have plenty of it, and the scrubbers are much better now, and land reclamation is dramatically improved. Hydrogen. I know nothing about this but my friends who do say it is profound in its potential.Conservation. I believe SUV’s should be luxury-taxed so that no rational being would own one. I think government should require every vehicle produced after 2007 to get at least 50 miles per gallon. Hybrids should be given tax-incentives. A huge insulation and window and homebuilding energy-conservation incentive program should be created by the U.S. Government.Mass transportation. Our goal should be to have light rail, etc., in every community over 100,000 in population, and we should create incentives for people to park their cars on the periphery of cities and walk in up to two miles to work. We should follow London, England, in creating car-disincentive programs for traffic in cities.The advantage of such a program is that it would unleash the amazing creativity of the American people. It would create new environmentally-friendly industries overnight. It would get us to move our bodies more. It would restore national self-respect. It would allow us to develop a responsible foreign policy. It would bring our critics to think better of us. It would be an indication that we wish to narrow the gap between the first and third worlds, between the very rich and the very poor. Perhaps most important, it would liberate us to do the work of the soul instead of maintaining the hypermaterialistic status quo, which is poisoning the American character in every conceivable way.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
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PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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