Revolution Watch

I have been following the Sustainable Revolution for many years now realizing that at some point, and I suspect soon, we as a country must do things in a sustainable way. In my view, most of what we do, particularly how we use power, has to dramatically change. Oil, like other forms of fossil fuels, are finite and will reach a point where no matter how hard we try, we will not be able to increase the amount coming from the ground. Its called Peak Oil.

All indications say peak already occurred in July of '08. What it comes down to is that once this is admitted, our world will change and our never ending economic growth will probably come to a very sudden end. This is not a pretty picture and it may well be under way as I write.

From that point on, we will have to get very serious about being sustainable. This will not be an easy task because we are very accustomed to a lifestyle that is not even marginally sustainable.

But there are a few things that must be done to allow us to scale down without eating the big one. While I hate to admit it, nuclear power happens to be one of them, in fact it may be the only real one. Yes, I know there are other alternatives like wind and solar but the truth is, they will never scale up.

It has recently come to my attention that the OBama administration is going full speed ahead on getting nuclear power going. To me, this means they are on top of their game and see the problems of fossil fuels. I see it as a positive step, maybe one of the only steps. The reactors will have to be accompanied with a reduction of consumption of at least 50%--to European level. The nucs will take 10 years to come on line. I don't like that gap.