The following is my letter to the New York Times:
I am sorry to alarm you and your readers but a truthful warning about imminent danger is never convenient, to borrow Al Gore's insightful word (or word clause). I have been a proponent of the criminalization of oil since before the BP spill. Now that the real dangers of our continued use of oil are plain for all to see, it would make sense that such a stance be supported by each and every one of the 6 billion people that inhabit this threatened planet, threatened by our continued use of energy whose source is oil. Now I am not speaking out against nuclear or even coal, although I would hope people use common sense and move instead directly to wind, solar and water first before toying with those dangerous forms of energy acquisition. However, because oil has proven itself for the last 40 years to be a huge source of danger to our population, which means you who is reading this, the time for mild measures such as simply saying eliminate oil consumption is over and the time to impose stiff criminal penalties on those who use it--it doing far more damage to far more people than the drugs whose sellers are thrown into long prison sentences each year. If we look at the cause of each of our 3 biggest crises in the last 10 years, every one of them could have been prevented had we taken the clean energy experts at their word 40 years ago and switched immediately when the Saudis used it as political bait. 1) September 11, 2001: It is clear that our dependence on middle eastern oil is the number one cause of terrorism, plain and simple. Islamism is the number two cause. Because our dependence on oil came first and Islamism came as a result. The Taliban, with whom we are now at war, fought the Soviets (as our allies). They, nor any hard-line opponent of ours in the Middle East is interested in colonizing the United States and taking over our people. They simply want us out of there. Plain and simple. The sooner we abandon the greedy hold of our oil company executives on those coveted pipelines that run through Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, the sooner the need for our brave and valiant soldiers to have to fight and die will be over. Sure we've already created enough animosity to be at risk of some terrorists. But it is simple sense that the moment we abandon their lands, these few terrorists will be unable to galvanize large numbers of their youth to have any desire to go over an ocean to fight us. The sooner we abandon oil, the sooner our borders will be truly safe. 2) Katrina: Katrina is just the tip of the iceberg of the insidious effects of fossil-fuel-burning-produced climate change. In this, coal and natural gas are equally at fault, which is why it makes more sense to, instead of supporting the Wall Street bankers who run those companies, switch to clean energy now. And, as I said, it's just the tip of a huge iceberg, the worst part of which we haven't begun to see yet. My good friend, Mr. Al Gore, can provide you with much better examples of what lies in store for us if we continue to do nothing to eliminate our dependence on unclean sources of energy such as oil. We are already seeing Eskimos displaced from their land because it's underwater. Before 1992, when Hurricane Andrew struck and devastated parts of Florida, hurricanes were a pretty rare occurrence. I need only point out to a simpleton how obvious it is that the global climate has changed to make it clear that those who say climate change is not a man- made occurrence are beyond out of touch with the reality everybody else sees clearly. But that's not all. Hurricanes and other severe storms have wiped out and slaughtered many people in the interior of our country and as far up the east coast as the very densely populated northeast. Deadly tornadoes have spread far and wide in our nation's interior. Wildfires make an ever more frequent appearance on our western shores--another heavily populated area--every summer without fail. How long will it take, as Bob Dylan would say, before those standing in the way of the earth and her 6 billion plus population take the necessary swift action to end these disasters? Glaciers on top of the Himalayan mountains are melting and guess who will soon be underwater if nothing is done? The 2 most populated nations in the world, India and China. Want to entertain yourself for a moment with the potential economic disaster that would occur? I don't think one could even imagine it. 3) The BP disaster: And yet, after all the evidence I've already given based on the above two tragedies, there are still people right now who, after seeing clearly how dangerous oil is through this 3rd and most obvious example of why it should be criminalized, want to go right ahead with business as usual as if it's no big deal.
This is strike 3. This is out 3. To cheat nature and humankind at this point would be something even Hitler in his wildest dreams never dared imagine--the complete annihilation of the entire planet, not just the entire human race but every other species alive. I think our flirtation with danger is beyond over and if we don't act immediately and swiftly to eliminate oil, we may not get another chance. The halls of Congress is the first obvious place phones should be ringing off the hook from each and every one of you. But we can't stop there. We need to call every official at the United Nations and make the elimination of oil a major priority.
The costs to the American people alone of the world's continued use of oil is skyrocketing. When oil becomes scarce, the price alone will be beyond the pale, but the human, environmental and pocketbook cost of each of these disasters, including the massive defense budget we've now had for the past 7 years, is something we should think about when we think about switching to clean energy. Then we will see the the costs of that switch are far less. Here are some of the immediate rewards: 1. More people will get jobs. Jobs for oil are mainly overseas. Therefore, transfer that manpower to the United States and see how many currently unemployed people are put back to work. First, there are the scientists. These are the ones who will train people in these forms of energy. 1a. Then there will be the massive numbers of people required to work out the transition, scientists, economists, government planners, corporate planners. In short, whole sectors of the currently unemployed population will be needed for this massive and quick shift away from fossil fuels to solar power, wind and water.
2. But the biggest reward will be the fact that these are renewable. And this is the clean big secret that the gurus of free market economics have gone to great lengths to shield from you. But it's too late. The BP disaster has let this friendly cat out of the bag. It's time to make this move and save big time over the huge profits these polluters continue to make. Because renewables aren't subject to possession and demand, the way in which sellers love to hold the rest of us hostage in a free market economy. They are at our disposal in unlimited numbers. All we require is the know-how. But that starts with replacing members of Congress who answer to oil company lobbyists with people who answer first and foremost to their constituents and refuse to take a penny from providers of dirty energy and planetary destruction.
One word of caution for anyone who's still not convinced: While it is true that climate change may not eliminate this planet and us that quickly, there is something else that the clearly resultant economic shifts and disasters caused by increasing climate change will--nuclear terrorism. If you think it won't happen, guess again. All we need is a large enough population devastated by climate change and economies will have no choice but to collapse, people will get desperate and either a rogue leader or a terrorist in the midst of a situation of anarchy and chaos will get his hands on nuclear missile. Want to chance that? If so, then ignore my letter.
Sincerely and very truthfully,
Marc Ginsburg
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