Support for Clean Energy

In November of 2014, my hometown county in California, which contains less than 58,000 people, passed a measure to prohibit fracking, the environmentally destructive act of extracting natural gas and oil that lies deep underground. For a sleepy little town this is a hugely progressive move. A few outspoken citizens had formed a group called San Benito Rising, together they collected over 4,000 signatures in order to get the measure on the ballot. Almost immediately after the measure passed a company called Citadel Exploration filed a lawsuit against the county. They claimed that local CA governments do not have the authority to ban fracking. They also claimed a 1.2 Billion dollar loss. For a town that had been limiting development for years, a $1.2 billion fine was terrifying thought for the citizens. But less terrifying than the destruction fracking could bring to the small city that thrives on its agricultural foundation.

The proven destruction to the environment caused by fracking and clear disadvantage of small local governments to fight it makes me think it is the U.S. governments job to prohibit hydraulic fracturing. (If you are not aware of the damage that fracking can do then read this.) Right now some of the public thinks that because the price of gas is low there is not an immediate issue. I’m not alone in fearing that this is turning into one of those long term investments that are so hard to get the ball rolling on until it’s too late. I think action towards a solution lies within the grasp of the U.S. government's role in safe guarding our nation from threat. 

But if we ban fracking on U.S. soil we would just be more dependent on foreign gasoline. And that is not a solution. Instead the government should be making strides towards supporting green energy sources, including research and education. Although some would argue that subsidies don’t help consumers and that it’s up to the private sector to invest in new technology. I would argue that green energy dramatically supports the nation and instead of outsourcing this to other countries the U.S. would benefit in being a leader. 

With the help of the government we could be creating more jobs involved in wind power and solar energy. Currently my husband is looking into solar panels for our house and interested in American made panels versus panels made in China. Not only are American made harder to find (closest company is in Georgetown) they are much more expensive. If Americans purchase outsourced solar panels then it's a missed opportunity, not to mention defeating the purpose of being green since they are being transported across the globe.

It should go without saying that investing in clean energy research and development would reduce our dependence on foreign oil. In 2012, the United States relied on 40% of our consumed petroleum from foreign imports. According to this site between one quarter and one half of wars since 1973 have been linked to oil. With money saved from avoided conflicts this long term investment wouldn't even take that long, and the nation would benefit on so many levels by investing in the future of green energy.   

Commentary on a Classmate's Blog

In a World of Political Shenanigans: The Military and my commentary

I agree that the U.S. needs to prioritize spending. We spend too much on defense. Our involvement has caused a snowball effect that has caused us to get further involved in foreign affairs and spend more and more money. Motives behind the 9/11 attacks were because of the U.S. involvement in Israel, troops in Saudi Arabia and sanctions against Iraq. The amount the U.S has spent on wars since the terrorist attack is over $1.6 Trillion. Wars are expensive, detrimental, scary, senseless, uncivilized, devastating and not progressive. Meanwhile our education system results in less than average results, making America look like the big stupid bully of the world. Data for 2010 shows we spent 20% of the budget on defense while only spending 3% on education.

            The idea of spending less on defense and more on education would benefit society greatly in many ways. I truly think that we could come up with clever new ways to defend our country without spending so much money. The next generation should come up with less barbaric ways of dealing with world conflict, and this can be achieved by education reform. We need to learn how to cope with conflict and when to stay out of foreign affairs.

            Education reform won’t happen just by throwing a bunch of money at the nation's schools. We need to offer better support to teachers that way quality increases. We need more research done on progressive teaching techniques and new issues that effect students today, such as ADD. Maybe we can figure out a system of standardized testing that teachers actually agree with. And while we're at it let's make peace studies a required course. The point is we should be devoting more economic resources on building and deploying young minds. The more we learn, the more we understand, the less we'll fight. If we truly want our country to be great then we need to prioritize where money is being spent because spending so much military defense is just protecting our right to remain stupid.