Oh lawd.
(Source: itsxplacebo, via cascadeoftoast)
Jan
21
2012
Jan
17
2012
Fiends of Coal
Here in Kentucky, we see quite a few of these bumper stickers:
Most people from my region are “Friends of Coal”, but should we be “Friends Forever”? Seeing as it’s a non-renewable resource, the answer is an inevitable ‘no’. Saying such a thing is taboo here, and even mentioning the end of coal will get you exiled from your community. People are fearful of losing their jobs, and are up in arms about how the government is trying to destroy the region by shutting down coal operations. However, let’s get some things straight.
The current administration has made no effort to get rid of coal. Everyone understands that it is still a dominant energy source for the country. However, it would be beneficial to put money into researching alternative forms of energy now, which is what they are attempting to do. The reserves will eventually run dry, and a system will need to be implemented before that happens. This will take many years to complete, and would bring a ton of much needed jobs to the area. The amount of time it would take to put in a new energy infrastructure would also allow for all current workers to either reach retirement or retrain. Coal is a dangerous business, and I think most people would be happy to see their children go into a safer line of work. Sadly, alternative energy is a curse word around these parts, and folks scoff at options such as solar and wind power.
You can also see bumper stickers that demonize the EPA for wanting to “kill coal”. This is hardly the case. The EPA is just doing the job that it was designed to do. They sanction coal companies that fail to follow guidelines that were put in place to protect the miners and the enviroment, and the only companies that suffer are the ones that put those two things at risk. Miners, wildlife, and people living near these mines die when companies don’t follow these guidelines.
“But there must be some truth to what the coal companies are saying, jobs are nowhere to be found!”, you may say. While it is true that industry jobs have been on the decline, it is by no means the government’s fault. As you can see on page 10 of this report from the industry itself, jobs have been steadily declining since at least 1979. This is largely due to technological advancements in mining and mountaintop removal, both which make many jobs obsolete. Many Eastern Kentuckians see mountaintop removal as a good thing, even though it employs far less people and causes far more damage to both the enviroment and local health than traditional mining operations. Coal companies are making record profits, and are scaring their voting employees into thinking that the current administration is trying to take their jobs. After having numerous conversations with a family member who is in the industry, I’ve seen just how brainwashed these companies and the local media (Largely sponsored by Coal) have made their employees and their families.
But what could be a viable alternative to Coal that is feasible in the next decade or so? My money is on Thorium. More on that in a future post.
Jan
17
2012
Be on the right side of history.
Jan
16
2012
This is why we can’t have nice things.
We as humans are at an amazing point in time, where we have the ability to delve into the inner workings of the Universe and even manipulate them. Heck, we can now model most of it on computers that were designed and built by humans. We can live longer than ever before, and even have the ability to grow our own organs. We know more now than humans have ever known, and our knowledge has been growing exponentially for centuries.
We live in the most peaceful time in history (Steven Pinker talks in detail about this in his TED Talk) , and social media has allowed us to be more connected than ever before. We truly are a global community. Events such as the Arab Spring, Fukushima, Haiti, and the immense global response to them on sites such as Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook show that we are truly compassionate for our fellow humans, regardless of background.
And yet, people think that we live in terrible times. Some even believe the world is ending. We are turning away from our enlightenment and turning towards more radical/fundamentalist views. More and more people are embracing their personal beliefs and shunning/pitying those who do not share them. Some people would rather fund wars and fences than research and infrastructure. Others would burn down clinics, and shoot doctors that did not share their same beliefs. They would even fly planes into towers, or evict scores of people from their homes just because the evictors believe they have a ‘divine right’ to that land.
People think that they are being moral, because they are sticking to the faiths that they grew up with, but morality and faith are not intertwined. I’m not saying being religous makes you immoral, religion can be helpful for some to find a sense of purpose, but be careful of the dogma.
“You can be moral and not be religious, you can be compassionate, you can be empathetic—you can have all those wonderful qualities. When it begins to be judged as purely based on religion, then you’re suggesting a world where Star Jones goes to heaven but Gandhi doesn’t”. -Jon Stewart
