Before I get started, let me make it clear that I do not endorse the Green Party, or any other "alternative" guaranteed losers.
I think all progressive elements should gravitate to, and take over the Democratic Party, to establish a Progressive Caucus coalition super-majority in Congress, and all down the ladders of power, to the state and local levels.
That said....
Energy producing industries typically project a "need" and "demand" for a steady rise in energy consumption, as a basis for asserting our urgent "need" for their modes of energy production, whether it's oil, gas, coal, nukes, or any of the alternatives.
But the fundamental flaw in such projections is that they are based on a contrived assumption, that we will, in fact, demand, consume and "need" more and more energy in years to come, domestically, as well as internationally, as the developing world catches up with US consumption levels.
A Starting Point on Topic
Just a Few Examples
An Exemplary National Program
The fact is, we could reduce our energy consumption by very substantial amounts, in a relatively short time, by taking some very simple, feasible, and, indeed, desirable measures, not the least of which would be in simple logistics.
This is not about going back to the stone age. It's about surging forward into the 21st Century, on a new green paradigm of super-efficiency through appropriate alternative technologies, of which management is a key element.
Going green will produce a more viable, comfortable, affordable, sustainable, safe, aesthetically appealing, secure, and just society, for the US, and the entire world.
Rational democratic management of the production and distribution of goods and services is as important as the tech of nuts and bolts, wires and chips...and a more legitimate method than marketing, lobbying and private profit.
A very huge percentage of our energy consumption is tied up in logistics.
Transportation.
We ship food and all kinds of other products very long distances, to the points of consumption. And the production of those products also involves a lot of transportation, to get the raw materials to the point of production..
The more we can reduce shipping, by any means, especially beyond local areas, the more energy we will conserve.
This means more local production of food, especially, but also other commodities that we consume.
We can do this. It's already happening, but it needs to be subsidized, and even mandated, to the greatest degree feasible.
Personal transportation of people is also a huge element in that...people are part of the "ingredients" of any production process, as well as in the distribution of goods and services.
The less energy we also use for personal day to day transportation, the more we will conserve.
Every human being on earth should be issued their own personal electric bicycle or Segue, with larger units and trailers available as needed, for hauling goods.
This should be considered a fundamental human right, to have adequate transport, to realize one's own full human potential.
Distribution of green bicycles to everyone would have a bigger impact world-wide, but it would also be huge in our own country.
A green transition of the rest of our entire national transportation infrastructure could then follow going forward, relatively quickly.
Another huge segment of energy use is structural heating, cooling and lighting, etc. We already have substantial tech available to reduce the energy consumption of virtually every structure in the country, everywhere, from building materials, to systems, to appliances and equipment. Use of water is also becoming an international issue.
If it were mandated and subsidized for every structure in the whole country to be immediately retrofitted for optimal energy conservation and self generation of energy, efficient water use, etc, to the very greatest degree now technically feasible, it would have a very substantial impact on reducing energy and water consumption, locally, regionally, and nationally.
Of course, all new structures would be subject to the same mandates and subsidies.
The infrastructure for implementing the green paradigm shift would, of course, then also be available to assist all of our own industries, as well as the entire world, to get with the program, to consume very substantially less energy, going into the future, even as we make the high tech amenities of civilization more and more readily available to the entire world's population, including our own.
We could reduce oil and other such centralized, old-tech energy consumption by 50%, and perhaps even more, almost immediately, and could probably improve on that substantially, over time, infrastructure-wide.
This would not mean going back to the stone age, nor forcing less developed countries to stay in the stone age.
Everyone's lives, all over the world, would be healthier, safer, more comfortable and convenient, more affordable and sustainable, more secure and aesthetically pleasing.
Trust me, it will be better than anything the death culture is offering us.
They are trying to force us to submit to and accept a "status quo" of the old death culture paradigm, even as they weasel to co-opt and capitalize on the new paradigm.
But the death culture is all about profit, anti-democratic, and against the public interest, and cannot be trusted, or allowed, to have a "vote" on this. The right must be suppressed, democratically, electorally.
We can do this, go green, all over the country, all at once, and put everyone back to work, doing it.
It will cost at least as much as the bailouts of the big corporations. But it will not be money down a rat hole.
Indeed, part of the management process must include review of all corporate charters, to determine, by democratically established criteria, whether they ultimately serve the public interest, or not.
Those corporations who do serve the public interest in some regard should get a prize, and should be subsidized to continue in that practice.
To the extent that they do not serve the public interest, their corporate charters should be subject to revocation, and their executives and management subject to arrest and prosecution, with corporate and "private" assets subject to expropriation and redistribution to the public interest.
This would free up a lot of resources for the green transition.
This management technique, and the green transition, will make us the leaders of the world, for a change, in a righteous, good sense, rather than the old, mean, rude, rip off, vicious murdering sense.
Instead of exploiting the less-developed world, to enslave them to our neo-colonialism, or slaughtering them for resisting that, we would be helping them to get to their feet, take control of their own destinies, and stride forward with us, into the 21st Century, for justice and peace, to save the planet.
Will it be Utopia? I think not. I think some old problems will still raise their ugly heads, and new ones will probably crop up.
But a world of mutual aid, co-operation and solidarity is a much better incentive to me, than a world of competition, greed, and murder.
Justice and peace, to save the planet, is all the incentive I need, to do my best to contribute as much as I can. I don't need to be bribed, or coerced to do this. It's all I've ever wanted, all my life.
Call me a romantic idealist, or a freakin' ideologue, lol...It's as close as I get, to religion...I believe in democracy.
Obviously, we can't have justice and peace, mutual aid, co-operation and solidarity, without democracy.
Competition, greed and murder tend to bring out the worst in people, and such tendencies must be suppressed, in the public interest, democratically. The right must be purged from all levers of power.
Public opinion in this country has reached critical mass on all the most important issues. This has manifested in the election of Obama and a Progressive Caucus majority within a Democratic Majority in Congress.
We are now at a transitional tipping point, where a remnant Blue Dog/DLC/Republican cabal retains sufficient plurality, just barely, to block, delay and sabotage motion.
All that remains is to more completely and absolutely seize the power, to suppress the right, democratically, electorally, in 2010 and 2012. We just need a Progressive Caucus coalition super-majority.
The fate of our nation, and the world, hang in the balance.
Seize the Time!
All Out for 2010 and 2012!
All Power to the People!
Bring the Better Democrats!