"Frankly, if I had my wish, we would be on our way out of Afghanistan not in, we would be letting Pakistan figure out which Taliban they want to conspire with and which ones they want to fight, we would be letting Israelis and Palestinians figure out on their own how to make peace, we would be taking $100 billion out of the Pentagon budget to make us independent of imported oil -- nothing would make us more secure -- and we would be reducing the reward for killing or capturing Osama bin Laden to exactly what he's worth: 10 cents and an autographed picture of Dick Cheney" (Freidman, 2010).
While I agree with this author that our money would be well spent on making us independent of imported oil, I believe our country needs to understand the impact our dependence has on us. While gas prices continue to climb, there has been limited advancement in fuel alternatives. Until we are truly inconvenienced by our dependence on foreign oil, I don't believe we will see a change. It would take a drastic shortage to spark attention and get us on the course towards improvement.
References:
Friedman, T. L. (2010, January 17). What’s our Sputnik? [Op-Ed]. The New York Times [Late Edition (East Coast)], p. WK.8.
Hello Laurie,
ReplyDeleteI agree that America must be independent of oil before taking such drastic measures as going cold turkey without having a backup plan. However, there are motorcycles, ten speeds, and many alternative forms of transportation available to Americans. It is the getting Americans to want to change that are the difficult part. I biked all summer long in case I needed to bike to work during the school year, and did it once, but the weather was bad. I think Americans have the technology for some of us to change their dependence on oil but it still comes down to our desire to give up our comforts in life. I enjoy the comforts of waking up late and getting to work in plenty of time to prepare for class. Do I want to bike to work in the rain and windy weather, probably not, but there are mopeds. The change must come soon, but the reality is that America does not want to change. Just as American students do not want to sit and be patient enough to read a novel or work long drawn out complicated Algebraic equations. Demski (2009) says change is hard to accomplish because Algebra, Geometry, Earth-Science, and Physics are less and less appealing.
It is true that our dependence on oil might not ever be changed to zero but we still have Alaska, Mexico, and new places like Argentina, to get our supply of oil from. What we should do is get our oil dependence from Iraq and the Middle East down to zero or they will bankrupt us. Friedman (2010) says Al Qaeda threatens to bankrupt you. From my $15 Trillion plus dollar point of view, and $100 Billion dollar spending, I think it is important to heed these warnings and change. But it is like you said; it will take something drastic for this to happen.
Thanks, Adam
References
Demski, J. (2009). STEM picks up speed. T.H.E. Journal, 36(1), 22–26. Retrieved from the Walden University Library using the Education Research Complete database.
Friedman, T. L. (2010, January 17). What’s our Sputnik? [Op-Ed]. The New York Times [Late Edition (East Coast)], p. WK.8. Retrieved from the Walden University Library using the ProQuest Central database.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
DeleteWe need to pay attention to our own country.