Funny, I thought I'd be having this argument with Slade.

Having a conscience doesn’t make you an enviro-weenie, George.  I understand your concerns; in fact, I share them.  Like I said, I live here, too and I don’t want my air or water to be poisoned, but let’s think this through for a minute.  Come, let us reason together, saith the Bossman.

To say that the human race has “raped the land” is to say that mankind is somehow not a part of nature.  The “addiction” analogy doesn’t work, either.  We’re “addicted” to fossil fuels like we’re “addicted” to food and water.  Every form of energy release, even the so-called “renewable” energy sources you cite, involves “burning” something.  As far as electric cars go, how are you going to charge the thing?  Electricity generation, whether it’s by coal, oil, gas or nuclear power, still requires that you “burn” something.  To change that, you’d have to change the laws of physics.  As a practical matter, we are a long way off from finding viable alternatives to coal, oil and natural gas.

The fact of the matter is that these so-called "green" technologies like solar panels and wind farms simply do not produce energy in sufficient quantities to do the "heavy lifting" necessary to drive this economy.  And don't get me started on ethanol.  It never made sense to me to try to turn food into vehicle fuel.  Personally, I think nuclear power and hydrogen fuel cells are about the most promising technologies out there.  If wind and solar are such great ideas, why do they require government subsidies in order to sustain them?  Doesn’t it strike you that the energy industry is probably the only sector of the economy that didn’t require a bailout?

No, I don’t defecate where I eat, but the fact remains that “everybody poops”.  Bottom line is, every activity that we humans engage in involves some risk.  Fortunately, we have a system in place to address these concerns and an economic system in this country that generates enough prosperity to clean up after itself.

Regards,
Scott Perry