Ecuperating - Chapter 28

“Our entire economy is based on the use of oil for power. To limit the search for it is stupid. To stop drilling for it is ridiculous. To stop the production is folly. All it does is make us dependent on foreign oil to power our economy. That’s dangerous and puts us in a subservient position to some small insignificant Middle Eastern nation who hates our religion and wants to kill us. How dumb can you get?

“All you really have to do is find a safe way to drill and pump. At least one that appears to be safe. You can’t solve all possible problems, but you can enter into the drilling with an open mind and a willingness to change when a better way is found. All sides would benefit from such an approach.”

Brett was nodding. “It sounds good. What do you have to say to those who advocate using electricity for power?”

“That sounds great! I wish they would come up with a way to do that. I remember hearing about fuel cell research. That might be the way to go. If I remember correctly, each home would have a fuel cell that would burn a small amount of fuel to make the electricity run the entire home.

Just think! No more electric lines! Now that would be progress! I haven’t heard any more about it though, so I don’t suppose we are very close to getting it. But I would sure be for exploring those kinds of alternate power sources.

“But if you are referring to the present electrical source I would have to take some exception. I read somewhere that the best and cleanest way to generate electricity is through atomic power. I don’t think we are ready to build more of those with the present state of mind of the public. The environmentalists would have a fit!

“Here’s another argument I had a big laugh about last summer. It seems that an environmentalist, in order to prove it could be done, drove an electric car across the country. He did it by dragging a trailer with a gas generator on it to produce the electricity he used in his electric car. All the environmentalists were ecstatic about it! Then a scientist broke their bubble.

“It seems there is a law called the conservation of energy. Now, you can’t prove this by me! Hell, I flunked science! What that says is that you cannot create more power than you spend. In other words, in order to take the guy across the country in an electric car, he had to burn more fossil fuel than he would have burned using internal combustion as a direct power source. But he used it to make electricity.

Therefore he wasted it. It was like begging the question. In fact, the guy pointed out that most of the electricity in this country is made by the burning of fossil fuels. To make an electric car economical, we would have to find a new source of power to make the electricity in the first place. ErgoAtomic power plants.

Unless you think wind power is possibleor wave action, or the tides. We don’t all have the Bay of Fundy tides, you know. And if you think it’s possible to build more dams in this country, think again. The climate for doing that has come and gone years ago.

“What do I think of environmentalists? Well I think most of them calling the shots today are whacko. They stretch the envelope too far. But then, the damn big companies not too many years ago were whacko in the other direction, so maybe it’s leveling out.”

“I think you have some very acceptable points there,” Brett said thoughtfully. “At least I don’t think you are going to step on many toes with your answers. The trouble with the question is that both sides have good points. Shall we lighten things up some? What are your thoughts on diets?”

“Oh, come on Brett! What a pun! You can do better than that!”

“I thought that was pretty good! Really. What about diets?”

“Well, if you can do what they say, they will all work. Unfortunately, most people cheat. So not many of them work. I lost all my weight 5 years ago on the Weight Watchers diet. Then I had to quit them because of the excess of salt in it. I tried the one that you eat a lot of meat on.I forget the name.

That was ok for a while, but I started to crave mashed potatoes and gravy with the pork and beef roast. I then went on the South Beach diet. That worked well, and I still go on it once in a while when I have to lose ten pounds in a couple of weeks. I like it because it tells me how to make what they recommend you eat.

That’s good for me because I’m not a great cook. Julia Childs, I am not! But I can read and follow directions.

“I think the diet people make a lot of money off the fat people in this country, promising them the world if they pay some dollars. They remind me a lot of the televangelists. They come from the same mold. Then they bring in the exercise people. Did you ever see anyone who looks like those people?

I remember one time listening to what looked like Mr. and Mrs. America talking about their machine. They had lousy voices. The next time I saw them they had dubbed in voices. A deep sexy voice for him and a sexy murmur for her. Like I said, they cheat to sell the product.”

“That’s about how I feel too,” Brett confessed.

“I haven’t had to worry much about being overweight yet, but I’m sure my time is coming. I won’t be able to continue my present pace forever. I’ll have to slow down some day! Butuntil then, I like the outdoors. Camping, hunting and fishing with my kids. It keeps me young!”