Mean and tough vs responsible aware solving problems

Looking at a Sierra Club email I just received, asking people to sign a petition to stop the creation of an oil pipeline from the tar sands of Canada to Houston Texas, it points out that we ought to be creating jobs for clean energy here in the US and not importing either that oil nor the billions we send each year to the oil rich nations in the middle east.

It is a hard decision for me. A better solution seems to me is to get the nation into a major mode of focusing on efficient economical transportation for America - and that is not at all limited to making electric cars and high speed trains - and focus on wind and solar energy gathering and efficient appropriate uses (eg solar cooking ovens are quite efficient and usable much of the time but not always, and could be built into houses), creating productive jobs for Americans at home. (Of course my own solutions to the energy, toxic wastes, and even living space construction, via the KESTS to GEO transportation structure concept, would have already prevented many of the problems; but powerful conventional business and politics intent on staying in total control are still heavily suppressing all that, so it is not an option - I did my best to help, by providing the conceptual keys to solutions others missed.)

The realities of the situation I see, looking around this desert town is not much different from other places in the nation I have seen: the neighbors and townspeople will not accept not having their big muscle SUVs and trucks in which to go get groceries in style; and moving those tons of metal around that way costs lots of petrochemical energy, mostly the money gets sent to the countries in the middle east, where they build fantastic cities with the money while we just burn the corresponding petrochemical fuel up here and nothing left to show for it but more CO2 to breathe. Is that very wise, or even wise in the slightest?

In other words, we apparently are simply not smart enough to figure it all out and deal with it responsibly. We are tough and a bit mean; that is about it. What can I say.

We wait for giant wealthy corporations to give us jobs doing whatever those folks think will make them the most profit, nevermind what we as a nation need for prosperity. This is flag-waving Free Enterprise, apparently. Sure, we don't want a dictator telling us what to do. That is just not at all the only other option of how to get things done. Are we not educated, have brains?

Thus we are stuck with the need to focus on getting oil from Canada neighbors tar sands ripping up the environment there, or else continuing to send all those billions to the mid east so we can continue to strut around in our gargantuan wheels. And to power our industry and much of our electricity needs too.

I wonder if there is a way to use our marvelous communication systems of TV and internet to make people aware of what their individual actions are causing to the big picture, and offer options for moving towards far more wholesome solutions and ultimately a better lifestyle. Most likely those whose success is assumed to be derived from being mean and tough - and the women who worship those mean & tough guys with their big wheels - would ignore such options, but among them might be a few who are of a more responsible nature. Would have to make it interesting, and in places even involve competitive games to keep their interest, perhaps. Although I would prefer it all be done with full comprehension of all involved - that means all Americans, homeless and billionaires alike - with the common intent to solve the problems for all of us, that the standard of living would rise in the country; but in my 70+ years I have learned a bit of the reality of "human nature" so I realize that is mere fantasy.

But civilization has not advanced and solved its problems and prospered by not going for solutions, intermittent that that progress is.

I wonder just how bad the situation will get before it finally gets people's attention, and the women to realize that their mean & tough men are not getting life fixed at all. Will it be here like in Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia, Checknia? Will they have to fling around all those nukes and warcraft in frenzy, making one heck of a mess, before we get around to thinking of getting responsible?

Well, maybe another cup of coffee will help my viewpoint later. I have a nice new roof over my head keeping the rain off, thankfully.