Conservationism

First of all, this "ism". Brrr. Isn't there some ideologizing nounification more mellifluositous? Ism is so, so Bolshevik. But I am a conservationist. A lot. Not an environmentalist in the slightest. Screw environmentalists. They suck.

The difference is, as I make it: which is important, humanity or The Planet. I don't see myself as part of a viral infection. That's the environmentalists' position: mankind is a parasite. Gaea? No thanks. Not my goddess. She can howl in her cave. Contrariwise, conservationists are husbandmen -- handling their affairs in a competent and thrifty manner. That was the job God hired Adam for. Tending the Garden. Stewardship. God is a conservationist -- when he's not housecleaning with droughts, wildfires, floods and plagues, that is.

To confuse the complex homeostatic mechanisms that allow life to continue on this globe for something that has arise randomly or naturalistically -- it just seems foolish. Can't we at least agree on a Deistic God? Must we resort to the magical thinking of random Evolutionism? And if we posit an outside organizing force, we deflate the goddess -- we enter the hollow of the idol and find no inherent intelligence, no spirit, no music but the moaning wind.

So it's a worldview thing. Given this, how are we to act responsibly? Well, I think SUVs are just moronic. Trucks? Trucks? For soccer moms? Breaker-breaker, Mama Goose reads yer twenty an's toolin' down the slab fer the Ankle Biters. Be there short flashin' 3s an' 8s. Did they learn nothing from the seventies? Don't they remember the gas lines and the odd/even rationing?

Use what you need, and save the rest. Why aren't roofs covered with solar panels? Why are we still burning oil?

I was just watching Modern Marvels, about alternative energy sources and the like. They talked about giant windfarms and fields of mirrors all aimed at a central water tank. Well, all that's many millions of dollars. A good civic investment, perhaps. Point is, a lot of our electricity comes from burning coal. I'm fine with that. We have lots of coal. But a lot of it comes from burning oil. Maybe you've been noticing a few items in the news, recently, about oil. Seems to have some international importance. Can't quite see how, but some are suggesting a national security connection. Maybe we should do something about that, huh?

Farmers and country folk need oil. Tractors and long hauls to the city. Us city folk don't. There are these things called "electric cars" you see. Or hybrids. Biofuels seem not to be such a great idea after all. Corn is for food. Third World countries are tearing up their jungles and crops to supply Europe's 10% mandate for ethanol in their petrol. Not quite the same thing as using waste oils -- donut and french fry oils, in modified diesel engines, as my son is planning. Free gas. Neato. See? One is pseudo-ecotheory. The other is thrifty and smart.

Then there's a French company that's made a full-sized car that runs on compressed air. Yes, that's right -- like what you fill balloons with. Range of 120 miles, speed up to 70 mph -- for two bucks worth of electricity. I just like that. And you do know, don't you, that many American families actually do have more than one car. So, like, for the shorter trips, the smart car, and for the long trips, the American car. Get it?

On a smaller scale, freezing a big block of ice at night and using it in the daytime as air-conditioning coolant -- 95% cheaper as I recall. Smart. A kitchen appliance that turns food waste into compost. Takes five pounds a day and in two weeks you have a nice pile of beautiful black earth. Up to 40% of landfills are food wastes. Burns fifty cents worth of electricity per month. Well? How is that not smart? Um ... it costs $450, but, uh -- well dang it, it will SAVE THE PLANET!

The planet can save itself. Save America. Does it reduce carbon emissions? I don't see that it matters -- as long as it keeps sulfur out of the air. Global Warming! isn't anthropogenic, and if it were, it wouldn't be because of CO2. But such things reduce dependence on oil, both foreign and domestic. There are political ramifications beyond the obvious.

Freedom, my young friend, means being independent. Independent means not dependent. Well, everyone depends on something. Sometimes we just need a friend. Sometimes we need some help. It's part of being human. But part of being a free nation means not being vulnerable to manipulation. I've said it before. Iraq would be Darfur if it weren't for the oil. Lucky thing for Iraq, then. But not so good for us. It would be better if we only had to care because we were such good people, instead of because they have oil. While we ourselves don't use much Iraqi oil, if it weren't there for those who do use it, the demand for what we use would be higher, and thus oil would be more costly. Basic economics, son.

With oil approaching $100 per barrel, alternative energies are becoming cost-effective. They are expensive to set up, don't you know, so there has to be significant profit incentive. Catch is, when they are competing in the marketplace, demand for oil will fall, and thus its price will fall, and alternatives will be relatively more expensive. A see-saw effect. Sort of a Beta/VHS rivalry, where one just wins out. In which case it becomes a character issue, and one of patriotism. We have to prepare options. Think of it as a security tax, like what the airlines charge us, now, thanks to the denizens of certain oil producing nations.

If you're going to buy something, buy smart. Cars and lightbulbs and refrigerators run the gamut in terms of efficiency. This isn't the 1950s, when we thought that rivers were sewers. How is that not a conservative understanding?

It's not enough just to be smart. You have to act smart.


J