We are now only a year away until the next election cycle and I know many people aren’t looking forward to the bombardment of political advertisements that will fill our everyday world. With slams on President Obama’s health care and allegations of sexual misconduct amongst members of the Republican party, this year will definitely bring out the adult-child in every politician on Capitol hill.
As environmental concerns start to make their way into the limelight, I look forward to hearing how both sides have it wrong. The Democrats will claim global warming from all the fossil fuels we are burning, and the Republicans will just say that it is a natural warming trend for our planet.
Each point the finger at one another and nothing happens. We just keep importing oil and continue to make pockmarks into the United States countryside as we drill deeper for dead dinosaur gold.
Citizens around the country continue to badger Congress to go green, echoing a new age revolution because, after all, we are just one planet, one world. Some members of Congress try to stir up change while others continue to line their pockets with profits from big oil companies. Sounds childish, doesn’t it? They think about themselves first and worry about consequences later.
My solution: burn more oil. Now that might sound like nonsense, but in reality it seems like the perfect plan to eliminate our oil addiction. When there is no more oil to burn, then we have no other choice except to break our addiction.
Our current model of oil consumption can be paralleled with giving a child both dessert and dinner at the same time. Congress, the child in my analogy, knows what the right thing is to do. They should focus on eating dinner first, my representation of green energy, but instead they choose to eat dessert first, which I see as oil. It is a sweet and simple solution and probably gives them a rush, like sugar, when raking in campaign contributions in D.C.
Like a normal child, they will probably insist that we give them more dessert when it runs out, but what do you do when there is nothing left to give? I imagine they will probably have a temper tantrum when Mom and Dad, or shall I say the U.S. population, tells them that the only way to not be hungry is to eat their “green” vegetables. It is quite simple; Congress can’t behave like adults so we have to make them grow up and realize dinner will always be there, just not the sweets they are looking for.
In the meantime, the U.S. population should be the responsible parents in the analogy and begin transferring to green energy, while enjoying dessert as well. Gorge on the black fluid that reminds me so much of chocolate syrup, while planting some trees on the side.
We won’t ever go hungry because, like good parents, we should be looking out for the state of our nation as well. We all know that broccoli won’t kill you. Like good parents, we need to keep our home clean by recycling because we all know the children won’t keep it clean on their own.
So every time I fill up with gas, I will press the pedal to the floor in my car. When they ask paper or plastic in the grocery store, I’m taking plastic. Some might say that oil prices will rise and we may fail, but I don’t see that happening in a country that requires “US” to spend money to keep the capitalist ship afloat.
If we do fail, remember that food comes from the ground and seeds around us.
Burn it all up, clean up the planet and remember: dinner will always keep coming if we all do our part to plan ahead.
Opinions expressed in editorial and opinion articles are the views of individual NIC students. These views do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Sentinel, North Idaho College, or any other organizations or groups there-in. North Idaho College is not responsible for the accuracy of statements or opinions shared.
