Finally, I know what I want in a man
Now I just have got to meet him. It’s not too much to ask for, is it?
Know anyone?
Watched a Dateline documentary tonight - The Green Gold? Fairly topical, it’s about the impact of an alternative fuel - palm oil.
The impacts, specifically, were about the illegal logging of Indonesia’s forests. I liked this documentary, because it was not as biased as the others that you would see on energy debates. They shone light on both sides of the story - that the rocketing prices of palm oil (some thing crazy like 20 year highs), is once again causing illegal logging of the forests in Kalimantan (the Greeny’s story). The other side of this story being that people in this world do live on the forest, and if logging (legal or not) was taken away from them, these would be the first people to suffer (the Practical’s story).
The topic of climate change & energy efficiency has been on front pages recently. Al Gore made a movie about it, George Bush is dealing with it, and heck, I even went to LIVE EARTH (which had some amazing musical talent by the way). But I find myself frustrated every time I read or hear about it. Not because I don’t believe in it - part of me do, then again, that doesn’t matter. What I am frustrated about, is just the sudden interest in it all. I don’t know if the theory of climate change is indeed true (part of me also believes in the cyclical change of earth’s climate due to its rotary angle), but if it were not, I still believe we should preserve Earth - because we only have so much resources. This, should have always been the way. It should not take a couple of natural disasters, an incompetent president and a high oil price before we took notice.
I thoroughly enjoyed the musical talent at LIVE EARTH, and definitely appreciated John Butler Trio’s composition. However, when he got on stage with a message of “Say No to Nuclear Energy”, I once again found myself frustrated. From what I understand, nuclear energy, is the cheapest, and cleanest source of energy. Yes, I admit, there has been fatalities in the past (e.g. Three Mile Island, Chernobyl) but I think we have learnt and know why - faulty and careless design of the plant. Should the nuclear plant be carefully designed (as many have been since), they are proved to run smoothly, and without fatalities. Most importantly, they do not emit carbon, but only steam. France generates 75% of its energy needs from nuclear.
Fair enough, mining uranium is not the cleanest, but neither is coal mining. Worse yet, coal-fired energy is actually dirty even whilst generating energy (i.e. carbon emission). What about solar, wind, or hydro energy, I hear some ask. The sun doesn’t always shine, and the wind doesn’t always blow. On top of that, think about all the steel that is required to built those structures (especially wind turbines) - the last time I checked, there was outcry on carbon emission of iron ore extraction and steel manufacturing. Oh yes, somewhere in there, coal is involved too. As for hydro, when China built its Three Gorges Dam, the rest of the world can’t seem to stop complaining about the ecosystem it’s damaging and the people they had to relocate.
Fine, bio-fuels then. Ethanol, which can be generated from corn or sugarcane, has seen both corn and sugar prices skyrocket. Higher corn prices doesn’t mean you can’t have corn as a side dish, but also that the feedstock for dairy and chicken and pig farms are now more expensive, meaning that the cost of your milk, cows, chicken and pork are more expensive too. You can guess where I would go with sugar. Palm oil, traditionally used for cooking oil and others such as soaps, toothpaste and in various foods, also has been divi-ed up to be used as fuel. Naturally its price goes up. Its other impacts? Well, you can see from the Dateline clip.
My point is that, we are fools if we think there is one, clean, hassle-free, inexpensive solution to our current energy problem (i.e. oil is running out and prices are higher than ever). Oil is finite. It is going to run out, sooner or later. So is coal, and uranium, and maybe even solar (didn’t they say that the Sun is dying?). It is commendable that we are now starting to do something about it, but this cannot be just another election year issue. This has to be a lifestyle. This has got to be re-educating ourselves, finding the truth. This has got to be about an open mind.
So now, go and turn off the light in the kitchen that you’re not using.
