Before coming here and posting that Obama is in the pocket of BP

[hedgehog]

and/or is moving too slowly to get us on a green economy, please do the following:

1. Send any gasoline fueled autos you own to the crusher (selling them as used cars doesn't count.)

2. Arrange to purchase your electricity from green sources only. (Most utilities have this option at a premium over their standard price.)

3. Disconnect and replace any gas or oil fueled appliances: stove, furnace, etc. Again, make sure the appliances go to the crusher and not the second hand market.

4. Insulate the hell out of your house and install triple paned windows. Make certain any materials you use were manufactured and shipped using green energy only.

5. Ensure your food is produced and shipped without the use of fossil fuels.

6. Ensure the water that reaches your house does not depend on pumps using anything but green source energy.

7. Ditto for the sewage

8. and the garbage pick-up.

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Huh?

What does one have to do with the other?

[msongs]

2. they don't lol nt

[hedgehog]

4. I think people are underestimating the effort required to change over

100 years of energy policy. The statement that these things take time is a simple fact, not an excuse. People seem to think that simply because we haven't converted our entire economy yet, Obama has sold us all out.

[JuniperLea]

7. Too many don't get the patience thing at all...

Nor do they understand, in this instant society, that real change takes time. Quick fixes never stick.

[GodlessBiker]

3. Must be the heat.

[xchrom]

5. Unrec

[JuniperLea]

6. We're all in BP's pocket...

They know it... too bad "we" don't.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

8. recycle plastics

[Skittles]

9. LOL

the pretzel logic here is hysterical :rofl:

[frazzled]

12. What is funnier is that ...

You don't seem to get the logic.

Day after day we see armchair prophets denouncing big oil and its effects (and the government's desperate attempts to deal with the crisis, even as it is trying to move us to a cleaner energy economy), all the while consuming oil-based energy themselves with gusto: driving their gasoline-engine cars and SUVs and trucks, stoking up their gas grills for 4th of July picnics, keeping the beer icy cold in the fridge while the air-conditioning is cranked up, etc. etc.

No one is pretending the kinds of sacrifice the OP is sarcastically suggesting are possible. But it is possible to do two things: (a) reduce the amount of oil-based energy you consume in small ways every day (yes, that means driving a whole lot less; (b) think about the ways in which we are responsible as much as BP or the government for the crisis in which we exist. For this latter, it means taking the long view, and working to move, step by step, towards a more sustainable energy economy, and working ourselves to conserve energy wherever possible. If each of us could consume 25% less energy by walking more, eating local, sustainable foods, turning down or off the AC, etc., it would be huge.

In other words: don't just sit there and criticize the president; criticize yourself for the destructive role you are playing, as well.

[Skittles]

13. it's not the use of oil that is the problem

it is corporate abuse and politicians aiding and abetting and profiting from that abuse

[frazzled]

14. It's the oil

If you stopped using it, there wouldn't be oil companies putting the squeeze on the politicians.

Get out of the sixth grade thinking and start contributing to the long slog towards a new energy economy.

[Skittles]

15. well that is fucking OBVIOUS

but the problem NOW is both the oil AND the fucking disgusting "response" - stop trying to use one to negate the other - THAT is "sixth grade thinking"

[frazzled]

16. Ahem ...

Maybe next year you'll get it.

[Bluenorthwest]

10. Where is Van Jones and why again?

[Ozymanithrax]

11. Crusher's are powered by oil...

Get a rock, because sledge hammers are made using oil, and crush them ourselves.

Cut up organics for use as compost. Take a file, and file all the metal objects into iron filings.

Oh crap, files are made with oil.

You know, this isn't easy.

[SwampG8r]

17. dumbest,least logical post ever!

congrats on the new standard for not making cogent sense

[hedgehog]

18. I should have perhaps added

:sarcasm: to the OP.

The point I was attempting to make is that there are both political road blocks and actual real-life roadblocks on the way to a green future. Obama can't sit in Washington, issue an executive order and take us from fossil fuels to green fuels in a day. First, he has to persuade millions of people that he is not going to force them to live in a shack in the woods shivering in the dark. If you think taking away people's guns is tough, try getting them out of their SUVs! Then, he has to work around hundreds of thousands of people who have a vested interest in fossil fuels. BFEE, anyone? These people will suffer from global climate change as much as the rest of us, but as the disaster in the Gulf has shown us, people with dollar signs in their eyes can convince themselves of anything. Having overcome the political opposition, Obama must then funnel money to the people who will do the actual work: insulating houses, building mass transit, developing bio-fuels, developing solar panels, developing wind turbines, installing all those items, installing the smart grid we need, etc. It won't happen in a day.

Now, I wonder if we really need to put any effort into bridge technologies such as "clean"coal and nuclear; I'd go straight for the target, myself. So you can see, I do have some disagreements with Obama's proposals. However, I am sick to death of people whining that Obama has sold us out because we aren't there yet. If you yourself haven't personally taken all the steps I listed, you are in no position to accuse Obama of selling out.