Petey's Pipeline E-zine

Issue #57

August 20, 2007

Contents

Business First The Credit Conundrum
Random Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings Sustainable Energy in the Post-oil Era
Write Thinking Parts of Speech (Part II, the Verb)

Business First (Editorial)

The Credit Conundrum

Credit makes the world go 'round.

Well, maybe not the world, but certainly the United States. We Americans, with our got-to-have-it-now-maybe-I'll-pay-it-off-later-at-a-higher-price-than-I-can-realistically-afford attitudes, desperately want it to be true, and so do the credit card lenders.

If you want to avoid getting buried under a mountain of debt, or get some motivation to dig your way out in case you already are, consider these shocking, deeply disturbing facts (gleaned from the September/October 2007 issue of Mother Jones Magazine), which were carefully dismantled and reassembled in the hopes of avoiding plagiarism accusations:

But these aren't the only statistics that show cause for concern. The following statistics (gleaned from other sources) paint a picture of the U.S. floundering on a sea of red ink:

Taken together, these two sets of statistics reveal a nation on a collision course with an economic iceberg. Without huge and immediate course corrections it's only a matter of time until the U.S. slams into that iceberg, sending economic shock waves rippling across the country and around the world. It's a global economic disaster waiting to happen.

• • •

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Random Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings

Sustainable Energy in the Post-oil Era
by Phil Hanson

The 20th century was an aberration, an age of economic prosperity made possible by an abundance of cheap fossil fuels. But now, oil and natural gas supplies are in danger of becoming prohibitively expensive within the next 10 or 15 years and possibly extinct within the next 30 to 40 years. The increasing demands in our country and all of Europe—not to mention the increasing demands of developing nations such as China, India, and those of Southeast Asia—will only hasten the disappearance of these essential energy resources.

Depending on whom you talk to, global oil production is near, at, or already beyond its peak. Once the oil is gone, what energy options remain? Coal? Before you consider an affirmative answer to that one, ask yourself how much more carbon dioxide we can dump into the atmosphere before it goes beyond the tipping point.

Nuclear doesn't seem to be such a great idea, either. Uranium, the source of nuclear energy, is a finite resource. The greater the demand for nuclear power, the shorter the time span during which supplies of uranium ore will be available. And then there's the matter of safely disposing of spent fuel rods and other nuclear waste. When other safety concerns are factored in, it seems to me that the negatives of nuclear power greatly outweigh any benefits to be obtained from it.

Widely touted as being a source for sustainable energy production, hydrogen may (or may not) be the energy panacea everyone craves. The transportation and storage of hydrogen on a mass scale remain problematic, and current engine designs fall short in terms of hydrogen fuel efficiency. Add in dollar costs and the amount of energy expended to extract hydrogen from water, it seems all but certain that the state of hydrogen technology is not anywhere near where it needs to be. Viable hydrogen technology could be decades away, but that doesn't mean it should automatically be excluded from our list of clean renewable energy resources; it only means that we shouldn't put all of our energy eggs in that particular basket.

That leaves various renewable energy alternatives to plug the energy gap; wind, geothermal, solar, hydroelectric, wave-and-tide-powered generators, and biofuels will help take up some of the slack, but none of them are capable of replacing oil entirely. If energy use continues to increase at current rates, all of them combined won't supply enough energy to meet global energy needs.

Because fossil fuels won't last forever and biofuels can't possibly fill the energy gaps brought on by fossil fuel shortages, we, as a society, must face some hard truths and begin to act in ways that mitigate the discomforts and inconveniences that always arise when making necessary changes.

Barring a quantum leap forward in energy technology, the only realistic way to resolve the energy crisis is to reduce overall demand for energy. We can best do that by taking personal cars out of the equation, and by reinventing our communities, our workplaces, and our homes to make them more energy efficient.

Accepting that unrestricted growth and unbridled consumerism are not sustainable practices and agreeing to stop them now rather than trying to cope with the problems they cause, later, will put us on the fast track to sustainability. We can strive to achieve negative population growth, increase the energy efficiency of our homes and businesses, and be better informed and more conscientious about the purchases we make.

Specific proposals aside, we'd be well served to start exercising better stewardship over our natural and human resources, and start working smarter rather than harder. If we don't soon put "economy" back into the economy, we won't have to worry about the future—there won't be one.

Copyright © 2007 by Phil Hanson
All rights reserved.

Write Thinking

Parts of Speech (Part II)

Each word used in a sentence has a specific grammatical function. The eight parts of speech into which various words are classified are noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. Grammatical function, position within a sentence, and inflection (if any) all help determine how a word is classified.

The Verb

Typically, a verb is a word that denotes or conveys the state of being of a noun, or an action affecting a noun, that is the subject of the verb. A verb and its subject must always agree in number and in kind.

Verbs show inflection (e.g., start, starts, starting, started); past, present, or future tense; first, second or third person; number, either singular or plural; active or passive voice; and indicative, subjunctive, or imperative mood, among other things.

A complex subject, verbs require (and deserve) a more detailed accounting than I am qualified or inclined to give in this limited amount of space. For a thorough coverage of verbs, refer to The Merriam-Webster Concise Handbook for Writers.

Disclaimer

The articles appearing in Petey's Pipeline E-zine are based on information believed to be true at the time of publication. Neither Perfecttext.com, Petey's Pipeline E-zine nor their publisher assume any liability or responsibility as to the accuracy or efficacy of any information, products or services that are submitted, advertised or rendered by contributors to Petey's Pipeline E-zine. While we make every effort to screen out scam artists and bogus offers, you should still do your homework. Caveat emptor!

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