Oil and Collective Guilt

May 16, 2010 22:30


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ignusfaatus May 17 2010, 04:44:47 UTC
i read this post one paragraph at a time starting from the bottom to the top. Your anger sounds good and makes me feel a lil better to see bullshit called.

hiya.

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perruche_verte May 19 2010, 02:59:14 UTC
Hey. I hope life is good for you.

It sounds like the oil industry can look forward to a much less compliant US government. But it shouldn't have taken an event like this to bring that about.

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quetz May 17 2010, 06:10:17 UTC
Clearly, the only responsible thing is to commute by solar-powered dirigible.

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perruche_verte May 19 2010, 03:06:54 UTC
Well, that's the thing:

-Even 10,000 freaks riding ultralight 180mpg cars we built in the garage, or dirigibles powered by our own broccoli farts, are not going to scare the oil industry in the slightest. They know they've got 90% of us by the gonads. They don't care whether you think you're free of them. As a society, we are not.

Edit: more like 99.5 percent.

The only thing out there that loosens their bowels is the end of the gold rush, the prospect of them facing the same taxes and regulations in the U.S. that they do in most of the developed world. That is what they've got coming.

-Where can I get one of those solar dirigibles?

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leaves1 May 17 2010, 16:19:46 UTC
Thanks. Excellent post.

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leaves1 May 17 2010, 16:37:28 UTC
I like your last two paragraphs... I think these are great topics to consider... almost everyone living in this country today was born into a system that is dependent on oil (except for the odd exceptions - the Amish? some obscure/rare intentional communities?). I do the best I can to minimize my own impact. My college years and a few years after were without car - it is possible in a city like Minneapolis. But even after I got a car, my main modes of transportation to work were still biking, walking, busing (depending on the season). Same after I moved here. Now I work at home so don't have the work commute, but because of my income and cost of a house in Asheville, I live 20 miles away from Asheville, which means I'm doing more driving to get there (even though I don't drive there every day - more like 3 times/week). There's no reward or incentive to live green... if I could be in the part of Asheville that I want to live in (walking distance of groceries and other needs), it would be possible, but inconvenient, to live ( ... )

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perruche_verte May 19 2010, 03:18:08 UTC
Even the Amish use kerosene lamps and diesel-powered generators. Interestingly, they can also hire taxis and moving trucks, though they are generally not allowed to own cars. I'm sure they consume much fewer petroleum products than the average American, though.

When the gas prices hit their last peak, it caused a reverse housing crisis in some of the Twin Cities exurbs: new housing developments sitting empty for lack of interest.

Living in an exurb always seemed like a devil's bargain to me: you trade lower housing costs for an hour or more lost to the commute every working day, since most of us don't get to work from home. That's one of the absolute proven detriments to happiness for everyone but those very few people who love driving during rush hour.

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punk_intellect May 18 2010, 15:22:44 UTC
I have nothing to say about this, but yesyesyes. BTW- do you have FB? I've been posting 2 articles a day, mostly about this. I'm kimberly@kwarnercohen.com

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perruche_verte May 19 2010, 03:19:13 UTC
Reluctantly and critically, I have FB. What little real writing I have time for is mostly done here.

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