Our Priorities are Out of Whack

Global warming isn't real; it's a myth perpetuated by the liberal media in an effort to undermine the nobility of the oil industry and American auto industry. It's mean to persuade us to all turn into tree hugging morons who feel that by polluting less, the Earth will get better. Well the real answer is that all of these problems are caused by terrorism! Ignore the fact that global temperatures are on the rise. Ignore the fact that we're having more and more 'unusual' weather events at strange times during the year. Ignore that man behind the curtain. Britney Spears is getting visitation rights for her kids. Paris Hilton is on the search for her new best friend forever (BFF). What's it all mean?

That's just a sample of the type of drivel we get exposed to on a daily basis. Given the fact that most of us are experiencing moderately to severely difficult financial times, it's no wonder that we tend to ignore messages and warnings that we don't care about. We tend to form our opinions on the snippets of news and heresay that we get in thirty seconds before we turn to the celebrity news of the day. Who is going out with whom and where they were spotted. See where some celebrity had her secret wedding and see the photos that only this one show seems to have gotten hold of. Never mind that we could care less about seeing the photos. My Aunt Ruth may have gotten married in secret but if she tried to sell her photos to People magazine, she probably would have been laughed out of town.

It's just a sign that at times our priorities seem so far out of whack to me that it isn't at all surprising that there's little or no focus on the important things. We've become such a 'instant gratification' inclined species that waiting for results is slowly being edged out of our biological make-up. Don't believe me? Well look at the latest talk on what to do about rising fuel costs. In the past decade or so, we've seen a rise in the number of hybrid vehicles on the road. They are popular, they are still a bit hard to find but they are gaining momentum. What's the problem then? Well for quite a long time we didn't have to pay more than a few bucks for fuel, now with rising fuel costs, many of us are paying the equivalent of a 40 items off of McDonalds' Dollar Menu. Think about that for a second. Forty items on the Dollar Menu would feed lots of people; or one very obese person but you get the point nonetheless.

Those of us who shell out for fuel on an almost weekly basis feel the pinch. Those of us who either have enough money that we don't care or those who are chauffered around aren't even aware of the pinch. But our politicians seem to know what the solution is. Extract more oil! Of course! That's the perfect solution. Only problem is that to do so we've either got exploit some of our remaining natural wildlife refuges or pay through the nose to convince oil-producing nations that we have a need for greater production. Well global warming is a 'myth' right? Forget the fact that we're being inundated with increasing numbers of severe storms of late. Weather patterns that have changed so significantly that it's becoming even harder to predict what the results will be next week let alone next year. And yet the things we see and hear about on the news are on other topics which would have no impact on us.

No one talks about the long term wait that would happen even if we start digging for oil in Alaska today. One thing, we have to find it first. Although we have a good idea this isn't like SimCity where we click a mouse and we have an instant oilwell pumping out oil. Nor is it going to be just that fast in refining either. I like to think of it like our old procrastination days in school where we'd wait until the night before a project is due to start on something. Sure not everyone was like that but I'm sure each of us on occasion has had something like that happen. How does this apply to the oil crisis? Well even if we start digging today; right now even, it will be sometime before we see the net benefit to drilling. The impression we get is that it will have immediate impact and that is sadly not the case. We need information. We need to understand; and by we I mean we the public. Will our life be altered based on whether some golfers think Tiger Woods 'faked' his injury and is opting out of the rest of the golf season for selfish reasons? No. But perhaps understanding what we can do for our planet which ultimately helps us is a bit more important.