Energy Victory: the preface
Wed Nov 07, 2007 at 08:29:13 AM PDT
I plan to do a chapter-by-chapter review of Robert Zubrin's Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil at my blog, New Worlds, and will cross post here because I think the subject is of great interest to the progressive community. I also hope to get feedback from some of the excellent thinkers on energy and environment who post here regularly.
First a few words on the author. I first encountered Dr. Zubrin through his leadership of the Mars Society and his outstanding book The Case for Mars. Zubrin is a brilliant engineer, holding advanced degrees in aeronautics, astronautics and nuclear engineering. He is also blessed with a wide ranging visionary mind, has studied and written extensively on history and even has a couple of sci-fi novels to his credit. I have enormous respect for him personally.
In addition to his writings, I've attended lectures in which he delivers regular insights on a wide range of topics. When he has an important idea to get across he has a refreshing, straightforward approach in making his case, including rigorous scholarship of the big picture and the details. Tact is not his strong point and some may find his directness abrasive. To say he doesn't suffer fools gladly is an understatement. I found some aspects of his arguments in this book extremely challenging to deeply held convictions and must continue to take issue on a few points. In broad scope, however, I believe Zubrin has written a powerful and important work that should be brought to the attention of a wide audience.
The first three paragraphs of the preface set the context for the book:
America is losing the war on terror.
For the past thirty years, we have allowed the enemy's power to grow, and as a result, a cult that was once an anachronistic curiousity has now become a worldwide menace.
Saudi Arabia is the primary global financier of the Islamist terror cult. In 1972, Saudi foreign exchange earnings were $2.7 billion. In 2006 they topped $200 billion. Over the same period, the United States' dependency upon foreign oil grew from 30 percent to 60 percent, and our annual oil import bill grew from under $4 billion to over $260 billion.
Right away, I'm annoyed by his use of the noxious, fear-mongering phrase "war on terror." Like John Edwards, I believe it should be retired as the unhelpful bumper sticker slogan it is. Zubrin has chosen, however, to frame his thesis in the context of what he refers to as a war. My feeling is that this isn't ideal, that the war he refers to is more of an ongoing plundering by an entity which finds itself in position to rake in huge profits at our expense and channel much of that wealth into a malignant philosophy that has no future in the modern world. I see it as less a war than a disease. Still, this doctor knows how to treat the illness, regardless of his semantic approach.
...we can counter the problems of pollution and global warming in a way that is fully compatible with an open-ended future of human progress, liberty, and economic growth.
The key step to make this happen is for Congress to pass a law mandating that all new cars sold in the United States be flex-fueled. Such a law would make flex-fuel the international standard, putting hundreds of millions of cars on the road worldwide within a very few years capable of running on alcohol fuels.
Zubrin's argument at its core is practical and humanitarian, not based on greed or xenophobia. We should move to alcohol as the standard fuel for internal combustion engines, not because we'll make more money off of it, but to solve two pressing problems at once; to resolve a perilous national security conundrum and to move to a new energy basis for transportation that is better for the world's people and the health of the planet.
Instead of financing terrorism, our energy dollars could be used to fund world development. Instead of selling blocks of our media to Saudi princes, we could be selling tractors to Africa. Instead of paying for death, we can pay to spread life. Instead of buying arms for our enemies and chains for ourselves, we could be building a world of prosperity and freedom.
That's how we win the war on terror.
He had me until that last line. Well, if that's what it takes to sell it to the yokels, I can live with it. I don't mean to be minimizing the dangers posed by our 'enemies' in this 'war.' Zubrin knows his history and presents a compelling case that there is much to be concerned about with empowering malicious fanatics with outrageous wealth. The best thing is it's just not necessary. We have a solution to the energy crisis right here at home. That solution is alcohol. Stay tuned...
Purchase Energy Victory at Amazon.
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