2008 Woodie Awards
Energy solution necessary to maintain power projection
Issue date: 2/8/08 Section: OpEd Page
With the elections coming up and the economy, as well as Iraq and the environment, on everyone's mind I thought it would be a good idea to touch upon something that is intrinsic to all of those things. It hasn't taken the spotlight from those subjects, but is inherently as important as all of them. It's a "crisis" that is more fundamental to human existence than the other problems we face: a crisis of power.
For the first time in human history all of our systems are coming to a clashing point. Our economic systems are shifting and showing how primitive they really are. Our governmental systems are facing scrutiny worldwide. Our ideological systems are challenging one another globally and, in many cases, starting wars. All of these problems are in part experienced because of our progress as a species manifesting itself in globalization. The problem of energy, however, is certainly a daunting one. We can easily see now that our dependence on fossil fuel technology is bringing to head a calamity that will cause us to seriously rethink our existence on this planet. We all know that these resources are beginning to run out. With America's insatiable appetite for oil, we're going to face an increasing number problems as it becomes more and more expensive to retrieve such resources. This problem is compounded by the fact that demand will continue to increase and supply will only continue to decrease. What is going to be a crippling event worldwide is not when we run out, but well before that, when the disparity between supply and demand reaches a particular gap and when the retrieval of oil becomes to expensive to accomplish. If no other sources of energy are in place and sustainable, this tipping point could trigger multiple conflicts across the globe in an effort to secure as much of the resource as possible. Remember, our military might depends completely on oil, so as reserves run low, it will only be a matter of time before action must be taken in order to secure dominance before a transition of energy resources can be made. If we don't have the adequate resources to force project our unbelievably consumptive military, then we can only support our borders-at best.
For the first time in human history all of our systems are coming to a clashing point. Our economic systems are shifting and showing how primitive they really are. Our governmental systems are facing scrutiny worldwide. Our ideological systems are challenging one another globally and, in many cases, starting wars. All of these problems are in part experienced because of our progress as a species manifesting itself in globalization. The problem of energy, however, is certainly a daunting one. We can easily see now that our dependence on fossil fuel technology is bringing to head a calamity that will cause us to seriously rethink our existence on this planet. We all know that these resources are beginning to run out. With America's insatiable appetite for oil, we're going to face an increasing number problems as it becomes more and more expensive to retrieve such resources. This problem is compounded by the fact that demand will continue to increase and supply will only continue to decrease. What is going to be a crippling event worldwide is not when we run out, but well before that, when the disparity between supply and demand reaches a particular gap and when the retrieval of oil becomes to expensive to accomplish. If no other sources of energy are in place and sustainable, this tipping point could trigger multiple conflicts across the globe in an effort to secure as much of the resource as possible. Remember, our military might depends completely on oil, so as reserves run low, it will only be a matter of time before action must be taken in order to secure dominance before a transition of energy resources can be made. If we don't have the adequate resources to force project our unbelievably consumptive military, then we can only support our borders-at best.
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