Dear Friends,
First, I would like to say something about oil and also make a few other comments:
It took nature probably 200 to 300 million years to create the entire supply of earth’s oil and we have, in approximately 150 years already used up about half of it. To think that it is right and proper for us to continue to search for and extract more oil now is quite improper. The rest of the oil does not rightly belong to us (we have inadvertently already used up much more than our fair share… the rest belongs to future generations).
Even with our limited scientific knowledge, we know that oil can be converted into wonderful products and miracle-like compounds, such as medicines and plastics. We need to conserve the rest for these kinds of uses, some of which we might not even be able to imagine right now. We should not continue to extract as much oil as we can find to burn up as fuel when other alternatives are available or could be made available if we had the political will.
Is there anything more selfish and arrogant than for us to continue to extract more oil for fuel, when our fervent hope is that our children and grandchildren and their progeny will continue to make Earth their home perhaps at least for as long as mankind has already been here. Whether the current amount of oil left in the ground will last another 50, 100, or 1,000 years is not the point. We should be preserving the remaining supply (or as much as possible) for future generations.
A little research can demonstrate quite clearly that there is no need whatsoever for us to be so dependent on oil. And there’s no need whatsoever for us to mismanage our land either, as we are now doing, having foolishly embarked on a new project to squander our rich soil to grow plants that we intend to burn as fuel just like we did with oil. We and future generations need that land for food.
Managing our resources the way we do now is insane when you consider that other technologies are already available or nearly so, and better suited. Every day the sun sends us more energy than we will ever need. We would be wise to focus our sights on learning how to use it.
What needs to be done…
- We need to restructure and repair our government so that our most capable, wise and responsible citizens are the ones who end up representing us.
- We need to insist that corporations do not and should not be treated as if they had human rights. Only people should have human rights. People who run corporations need to be held accountable and should not be able to hide behind a corporate veil in order to absolve themselves of culpability when they make decision that do not serve the public interest.
- We need to believe in the power of telling the truth and we need to make justice and peace our personal and national purpose and goal… not as rhetoric, but as true intention.
Please consider these thoughts and see how you might contribute to expanding and refining them as you participate in the various aspects of your life.
Very truly yours,
Mark A. Goldman
