Back to the Future

I don’t know how many of you who are reading this was affected by the 70’s oil embargo and the long gas lines but we responded and recovered. A lot of the recovery was due to CONSERVATION. We need to take a step backward in time.

In the 70’s:

We reduced the speed limit to 55 mph. I am not in favor the government legislating a 55 mph speed limit but we can voluntary reduce our speeds and drive more conservative to save fuel. Plan travel accordingly and consolidate trips, carpool and eliminate unnecessary travel.

We reduced consumption of gasoline by over 7% in the summer of 1974.

High rise office buildings turned off 95% of the lighting at night.

Many employers in major cities initiated flex hours to reduce traffic congestion and fuel waste.

Families became conservative with electricity, water usage and fuel consumption...

We as a country rose to the occasion and reduced our oil imports from 1,200,000 barrels a day to 19,000 barrels a day.

We can do it again and we have so many more options to conserve. Reducing and recycling can make a big impact while we are developing other sources of energy.

Join the junk mail revolt. www.junkmailrevolt.com

Each year, 100 million trees are used to produce junk mail
250,000 homes could be heated with one day’s supply of junk mail
Americans receive almost 4 million tons of junk mail every year.
(No we do not heat homes with wood or paper but it requires energy to produce, deliver and dispose of this junk mail)

Use canvas shopping bags for grocery shopping. Americans discard 100 billion plastic bags each year. It requires a lot of petroleum to produce these bags as well as dispose of them.

We imported 178,000,000 barrels of oil from OPEC in April. This produces 3,564,000,000 gallons of gasoline. There are 275,000,000 cars and light trucks registered in the U.S. If each vehicle used 10 gallons less gasoline each month this would reduce gasoline consumption by 2,750,000,000 gallons. This could reduce OPEC imports by 77%. Go to www.eia.doe.gov for information on crude oil usage.

There are many sites on the web where you can go to find energy saving tips. One which publishes a monthly newsletter is www.usgreenhome.info.

This is not about sacrifice but discipline. Small errors of judgment repeated over time can bring down a team or a nation; small acts of discipline repeated over time can empower a team or a nation. Its time to take responsibility for our actions and to take responsible actions.

Alternative energy is the long-term answer but we need short-term relief to avoid economic ruin.

Tags: carbon, conservation, energy, footprint, imports, neutral

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Comment by ROBERT A. THOMPSON on August 24, 2008 at 8:17pm: let me tell you a secret about those gas lines in la back then,the lady that controlled the unloading of the tankers was under orders to not unload the tankers sitting in long beach.was in la when this was going on,later the american pres of a canada company called omnen workover & drilling rigs told us about this because it was his sister that was the dispatcher in long beach

Comment by Wayne Alderman on August 20, 2008 at 10:19am: Yes and your points are well taken. We are in an economic war now and we must as individuals take our positions to take back our country and quit following the pied pipers.

Comment by Justin on August 20, 2008 at 10:15am: Ah but you do forget that Christianity to become as dominant as it is required State Sponsorship and even wars on its own behalf to spread it...to the point where it became a government unto itself. Your principles however are correct.

Comment by Wayne Alderman on August 20, 2008 at 10:11am: Hi Justin,

I hear what you are saying...I'm not sure you understand what I am saying. I am not for any kind or Governmental control in personal and business life. What I am talking about is people taking personal responsibility for their own lives.

The greatest movement in the history of mankind was and is a result of personal effort and discipline...Christianity. It was started by one man and followed by many (volunteers). As Vince Lombardi said: "Individual commitment to a group effort....that is what makes a team work, a company work, an organization work, a country work and a civilization work". This is what I am talking about.

If you will read my other post in "Live Carbon Free" such as, America has a disease worse than Oil addiction, Individual responsibilityt, There is an answer, and Oil is only the tip of the Iceberg, I think you will have a greater understanding of what I think will turn this country around.

You bring up the point about Government regulation and this is exactly what I am talking about is my post on Apathy. People have come to rely on the Government to take care of us.

Plato said it best: "The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men".

Comment by Justin on August 20, 2008 at 9:13am: The ideas are all good in principle but work only if you adopt a fascist or quasi-fascist/syndicalist/corporatist attitude. i.e. anything that requires mass cooperation will also require government regulation and/or action in collusion/cooperation with industry.

The government is free to regulate itself, but soon it will be stepping into your homes and businesses to an even greater degree in the name of the public or greater good.

I am all for these alternative energy sources, but heavy handed tactics and regulation put me off. I work with Connecticut's Energy Conservation programs and I help businesses update their infrastructure and save money on electricity every day. There are positive ways to do this and it isn't by micromanagement.

Comment by Denise Scott on August 6, 2008 at 4:13pm: I vividly remember the oil embargo, but believe a few have long forgotten that time of this country making a concerted effort to save on fuel. There are some I know are plenty old enough to remember long, really long, gas lines. President Carter would sit by his fireplace and led by example, rather than do as I say. All government buildings were ordered to set and leave thermostats at certain temperatures. I think this is about the time thermostat locks came into existence. Finally, all ALL government car fuel use had to be documented as necessary to the mission.

Your point is well made. I am all for government mandates to save energy (reasonable mandates), but would like to see they themselves acting responsibly. So far it's an empty wish.

Comment by Chad Taylor on July 24, 2008 at 7:49pm: What a waste!! We have become a nation of disposable everything. We waste so much now as compared to a generation ago. It is not so much the waste as the energy required to create the products, deliver them, market them and dispose of them. If we simply reduce our waste (this is conservation) we can make a difference while alternatives are developed.