The Uncomfortable Truth

First off, I would like to extend Valnetine's Day greetings to my sweetie, Keitha Mashaw: I love you, doll. Here's to many more!

Last time, I wrote that global warming is not the problem. The problem is those people who refuse to admit man’s role in it. Their motive is greed.
Who cares if what we use for energy eventually destroys the planet? Who should worry if the essential monopolization of present energy forms has brought gains to a select few while bringing death, disease and poverty to the many? Who gives a damn if our soldiers have to die for energy? There’s a fortune to be made!
Not by you and me, of course.
Global warming has the power to destroy the fortunes and empires of some very influential people—the ruling class.
There is however, a solution, a way to keep the energy barons happy:
Sell them the sun.
I heard on hate-radio, “If [biomass] fuels were a viable alternative, the oil companies would be all over it.”
Since I heard this on KPAY, I knew it to be untrue.
That’s when it hit me: If everyone had their own oil well (read: energy supply), the oil companies would be out of business. The energy barons only invest in technologies wherein they own all or most all of it.
So, let them own the sun!
This is not a new idea. Back in the ‘70s, the San Diego Gas and Electric Company tried to buy the “rights” to the sun. Meaning that even if you had your own solar collectors, you would still have to pay an SDG&E bill every month. When I mentioned this to an audience in front of the Public Utilities Commission, they were demonstrably upset, as was I.
I was more of an idealist then. The naïveté of youth, I suppose.
But, writing about, speaking about, and wishing about sustainable, clean energy hasn’t changed much of anything, so, it’s time to be practical.
Sell them the sun.
If there are two things this country has in abundance, they are avarice and innovation.
If money could be made from the raw product itself, then the energy barons would be funding all the research necessary to improve every single facet of solar technology. We wouldn’t need Proposition 87, we would already have cleaner alternatives to gasoline engines. You can bet battery technology would improve by leaps and bounds too. Imagine, you come home, and plug your car into your home’s solar-powered energy system. Oh sure, you would still pay a couple of hundred bucks each month to Exxon, or whatever, but, we would reduce CO2 emissions.
I am willing to bet we would have all the clean technology we would need to eliminate CO2 emissions within ten years.
Maybe I should try for that 25 million dollar prize I’ve heard about.
The monopolistic aspects of it could be avoided merely by giving X percent of our money to one company and Y percent to another, etc.
You know, exactly what we do now.
The energy barons could continue to play their little games with us, too. For instance, on cloudy days they could raise rates due to “shortages beyond our control.” When ol’ sol’s “Dimmer Switch” kicks in, they would have yet another excuse to raise their rates, and consequently, their profits.
Maybe we Chicoans would get a rebate as our summertime excess radiation could be sold to the cloudy coastal areas. Oh well, we could hope, anyway.
There is also the wind.
Wind is a function of solar energy. Want to install a little wind turbine on your chimney if you are not blessed with high solar radiation? No problem! Too expensive? How about a tax break? The fatcats would be happy to bribe their whores in Congress to give us tax breaks for buying products that will enrich them.
Because you will still be transferring your wealth to the fatcats.
And isn’t that what America is all about?