http://www.outofgas.com/ -- another resource calling for energy-efficient vehicles and legislation
http://www.detroitproject.com/ Started by Larry (Seinfeld) David and Arianna Huffington, a citizens-action group for fuel-efficient cars.
Reuters on Yahoo Reports on The Detroit Project and shows some of their commercials, which should be airing this weekend.
http://www.peakoil.com/ Daily news about the impending oil crisis
I've been meaning to write about this for quite a while, but keep getting bogged down with other stuff.
I read a really interesting article about three weeks ago in last month's Mother Jones magazine. It said basically this:
"What would've happened, if, on September 12, 2001, George Bush had said to the American People that the attack was a warning sign that we needed to reduce our dependency on foreign oil? If he'd announced that starting the following day, a fifty-cent-a-gallon tax on gas would be imposed, and that money sent to research energy alternatives, hydrogen cars and fuel-efficiency on everything from furnaces to jet engines? That Americans needed to pull together, tighten our belts and stand on our own feet again, rather than be dependent on foreign countries for so much of our wealth?"
How would you have reacted to a FDR-like-call for solidarity, sacrifice and hard work? I dunno about you, but I'd've welcomed it. We could very easily have shouldered that burden then, and still taken political (and even though I opposed it then, and still do now) and military action overseas simultaneously.
But what did Bush do? What did he say? "Remain calm, go back to your lives as usual. Don't change your lifestyle one bit or the terrorists have won. Consume, and keep the economy strong." What the heck kind of message is that from a wartime president?
Think about it.
What America needs right now is a new gargantuan push, sanctioned and funded by the US Government, towards energy-efficient sytems and alternative fuels. Biomass, biodiesel, windfarms, tide-generated electricity (gawd, is that cool) and Solar are just starting points.
Where'd we get the funding? How about that $100 Billion (yes, *billion*) that they've set aside to put a man on Mars? Think $100B'd be a good start? HOw about a gas tax? 25 more cents won't kill anyone, and would act as an incentive to switch to more fuel-efficient cars.
Funding aside, we need a road map, and we've got one: The Apollo Alliance.
Their name comes from the Apollo project suggested by Kennedy. In 1959, if you'd told someone that there'd be a man walking on the moon in ten years, they'd have laughed in your face. And yet, when tasked with a seemingly impossible challenge, Americans rose to it; their ingenuity figured out how to launch, land and return a man from the moon, using computing technology less sophisticated than an Atari 2600.
This push created jobs, technology and American Pride the likes of which had never been seen. It propelled the economy forward.
Think about it.
Want the roadmap? Start here: http://www.apolloalliance.org. This isn't some pie-in-the-sky dreaming; it's an actual battle plan, backed by Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Leo Gerard, President of the United Steel Workers of America,
Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr, (D-IL) and endorsed by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the International Association of Machinists (IAM), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), the International Union of Electrical Workers (IUE-CWA), the Transportation Workers Union (TWU)
and the United Automobile and Aerospace Workers (UAW).
And the Teamsters.
I think this is personally the smartest thing I've heard in years. Think so too? Feel free to circulate this blog entry.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1223998,00.html
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/052604A.shtml
Why yes, yes it could.
Yowow. What a long strange year it's been.
This blog is a ressurrection of the original JanerBlog, which died in a server crash several months ago. Yes, this is a largely political blog. Yes, it's going to be peacenik-oriented and mostly liberal. That's why I separated it (granted, by only one link) from the rest of my site.
When I first started blogging, I was brand-new to the whole Quaker / peace activism thing, and was casting about for something, anything to make me feel like I was making a difference. I went on marches, made signs, talked a lot... and now I've fallen out of that practice.
I've learned a lot in the meantime, and hope to bring some of that knowledge, along with some newfound cynicism, back to my site. Take for instance the two most vocal protest groups: International A.N.S.W.E.R and Not In Our Name. When I heard of both of these groups, and saw their organizing power and influence on the initial antiwar protests in DC, I was really, really impressed. But then I started talking to some of the AFSC folks: ANSWER is largely considered to be a front for the largely-Marxist Workers World Party, and NION is tied to the Revolutionary Communist Party. This is fine if these sorts of groups match your ideology, but they're not horses I'd particularly choose to back.
In the end, I find myself largely paralyzed by the immensity of the world situation. I feel sometimes as though there's nothing a single individual can do to make a difference. I provide this blog as one way I hope to light a candle against what appears to be increasing darkness.
Thanks.