Blame Yourself

Everyday there is a new political bandwagon to jump on, and today it is once again the price of gas. Instead of analyzing the problems which created the energy shortage in the 1970's and finding a comprehensive solution, American car makers built bigger vehicles and we bought them. Now that we are once again facing an energy shortage with the increased demand of Chinese and Indian drivers, we are still trying to find someone else to blame for our own failure to demand alternative fuels. The US auto makers are increasingly losing market share to forward thinking foreign competitors, laying off American workers in favor of cheap labor outsourcing, and scratching their heads trying to figure out where they went wrong.

Most Americans think of our South American neighbor Brazil as a third world country. No longer, my friend. The leaders in Brazil did something American politicians have been unable to do and that is to learn from their mistakes. They stopped repeating the conventional wisdom here in America (I'll repeat again it in case you haven't heard it 10,000 too many times - "the solution to the energy problem is increased exploration and refinement capacity" - 10,001 now and it still isn't true) and found a real solution to make their entire vehicular population run on sugar cane ethanol. And surprise! They are driving GM flex-fuel vehicles. Brazil will be energy independent by the end of 2006. It can be done here too, but not by staying the course and continuing to rely on fossil fuels as our primary source of energy.

If you want to point the finger of blame at someone you only need to look in the mirror. Look at your car, look how and where you drive it, and try to remember the last time you walked more than a few feet to get somewhere. It's so easy to jump into your gas-guzzler to drive a couple of blocks. Get off your fat ass, out of your car, and walk. This country also has an obesity epidemic and you are the problem. You could be a small part of the solution by simply walking more and driving less.

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