In an article posted on Anderson Cooper’s AC360 blog, CNN correspondent Jonathan Powers commented that he was spending his second Fourth of July with the troops in Iraq, who marked the occasion with “a few non-alcoholic beers and some locally grown watermelon.”
Powers goes on to note that America’s dependence on foreign oil is one of the greatest threats to our liberty, stating, “It is a shame we will let another Fourth of July pass without making substantial progress toward ending our unnecessary dependence on foreign oil.”
Powers writes that even as Americans send more than a billion dollars a day out of the country to pay for oil, those same dollars are going to countries that are either outright hostile to American interests or at best, indifferent to factions within their borders that are.
In clear, well written terms, Powers points out America’s dependence on foreign oil hamstrings our choices, be they in foreign policy today or, increasingly, green energy technology tomorrow.
More than any feel good, tree-hugging ethos, the hard-eyed realism of what Powers is talking about is a sobering argument for addressing American’s oil addiction.
We bring this article to your attention because it makes an interesting point – particularly now as we just celebrated Independence Day.
While we believe it is better to be self reliant than not, we don’t pretend to have the single answer to the deeply entrenched problems Powers so eloquently describes.
We suspect some combination of more domestic oil production, combined with ever improving green technology, increased mass transit options and communities designed to be a little less automobile centric might be a good start.
Lessening our addiction to foreign oil will be difficult, no doubt. Change is difficult, but as we so often tell ourselves, proud Americans that we are, we always rise to the occasion.
(Powers article can be found online at www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/07/04/powers.oil.independence/index.html?hpt=T2).
