IS GREEN REALLY GREEN?

Whenever anyone addresses the subject of going GREEN, I feel it is essential to include the subject of CLIMATE CHANGE, aka GLOBAL WARMING, in the discussion. The GREEN issue includes a wide range of conservation matters, and the inclusion of the purported warming of the planet is appropriate.

Obviously that statement suggests a bias on my part and I readily admit my questioning of the entire CLIMATE CHANGE position. More and more recognized scientists are coming forward doubting the wide array of statements attributed to ex-Vice President Al Gore. I really do not know if there is a sound foundation to all of Gore’s claims, but I am suspicious.

It is your Commander’s position that it is prudent to conserve our resources, because at some point in time the supply of some basic necessities, such as oil, will be exhausted. I do, however, question the validity of our government curtailing the drilling of available reserves off our continental shores, on the North Slope in Alaska, and developing the vast oil shale deposits within the United States. Why do we limit employment of U.S. citizens, yet fund unfriendly nations’ government controlled oil production when we could be spending those same dollars for American produced resources?

For far too long we have failed to invest sufficient dollars into research for alternative energy sources. Unfortunately our expenditure of vast sums of money into the corn based alternative fuel has proven to be a very poor choice, and many investors are paying for their original rush to profit, and all we are stuck with is a big increase in the price paid for corn bi-products.

Political influences have delayed the vital research necessary to develop alternative fuel. The Kennedy family influence has blocked the installation of wind turbines off the coast of their compound in Massachusetts. Special interest pressures in Washington have virtually brought appropriate investment into research to a stand still in an effort to continue huge profits for clients, further preventing exploration for acceptable alternatives.

I get very suspicious when our government officials tell us to conserve while they pollute our skies flying off on taxpayer paid jaunts or home each weekend to stuff their pockets with re-election campaign dollars. With the invention of computer meeting software why can’t our elected officials cut back on their travel? That suggestion includes our President and his gang, too.

Both GLOBAL WARMING and the GREENING OF AMERICA come under a skeptical eye from your Commander when the leader of these efforts, namely Al Gore, totally disregards his own urgings to the average American citizen. He flies around the world in a private jet and lives in a totally inefficient, energy sucking mansion in Tennessee. Apparently the same rules do not apply to the elite such as Gore or our government leadership when they leave gigantic carbon footprints from air travel or run around Washington, DC in low mileage, large SUV’s. It is reported that Al Gore had $2 million in the bank when he left federal office, and today, just over 8 years later, he has accumulated a net worth of over $100 million. Something does not ring ethical, and something stinks. Obviously the rules do not apply to the elite, but we average Joes must suck it up and listen to their “do as I say, not as I do” lectures.

I honestly believe that pure self-serving greed and opportunism is at the base of the entire GREEN movement. There are a lot of people making one hell of a lot of money promoting GREEN and conservation. It is further my position that much of the movement is exaggerated fear, and does not hold up under a scientific investigation.

Should we conserve? YES. Should we go GREEN? YES, but within reason and only with appropriate scientific support. I will not buy a small automobile just because some bureaucrat who does not know anything about the auto industry says I should while he rides around in a big SUV.

We desperately need reasoned, objective, research-based leadership that is not always politically motivated. We are living under over-reactive decision making determinations being made by questionable poll results, and urgently require honest, non-partisan, objective leadership. I know that I am an optimist and a dreamer, but something must change before we go down the tubes. The policies of leadership today are just not working for the average American’s best interests, only for the benefit of the politically elite or welfare entitlement crowd’s pocketbook.

COMMANDER GRANGER