November 1,1977
continued from paja 8
we couldn't have gotten
another three ounces out of
the sonofabitch. There's no
way 22 pounds could still be
in there."
Smith says that despite this
failure to locate evidence of
the missing fuel, the federal
government accepted Kerr-
McGee's word that the lost
fuel had been accounted for.
The missing plutonium is
reportedly enough to produce
four or five home-made nuclear
devices.
In both cases, dehumaniza
tion has occured to the point
of murder. In one case racist
attitudes are to blame,
profit appears to be a motive
in the other. If society backs
these groups with lax sentences
or lack of convictions there
will be more of it.
(Information courtesy of
Zodiac News Service.)
Wov'e; c Q
o
And speaking of the
illicit weed, a newspaper on
the Hawaiian Island of Maui
reports that marijuana farming
has become a $lO billion a
year business. On that island
alone, it allegedly involves
about 1000 full time growers.
The Maui Sun says a month
long investigation by the
newspaper has uncovered an
ever-expanding pot industry
on the island. The newspaper
describes the pot growers it
interviewed as "articulate
family people who own their
own home, drive a nice car,
want to send their kids to
college and seemed very
professional about the
scientific ways to grow dope."
The island is world reknowned
for its potent strain of the
weed known "Mauie Wowie."
SPIRIT
According to a nation
wide survey by the George
Gallup Organization, 95 per
cent of all teenagers say they
believe in a god or a universal
spirit.
In addition, the survey
found that 75 percent of those
between the ages of 13 and 18
reported they believe in a
personal God described as
a being who observes indivi
dual actions and then rewards
or punishes those actions.
Ninety percent of the teens
questioned said they prayed at
least occasionally with 40
percent saying they pray
"frequently."
The survey also found that
girls are more likely to pray
and to pray frequently than
are boys.
BYTANEDATTA
We used over 80.3 Quads
of energy in America last year
and we are predicted to use
even more in the following
years. A lot more, over 191
Quads by the year 2000 is
the government figure. This
comes mainly from non
renewable resources: coal,
natural gas and oil which
account for 92.2% of our
energy supplies. This implies
an end and before that limit
ations. We have already
entered the time of limitations.
Furthermore, our present
choices of energy sources will
affect our lifestyle and even
the survival of our society in
the future.
The need to find an energy
plan to fulfill our future needs
is obvious. The urgency of it
is underscored by the amount
of time President Carter and
Congress - our largest decision
making bodies in the country -
have put into it.
The President's political
ambitions for this year are
riding on his energy plan. The
final plan will affect everyone
of us in several ways. Thus
our thoughts and concerns
should be important in the
formation of the plan. The
first effects will be in limitations.
Limitations are placed on
us by necessities. The primary
ones being diminishing
resources leading to economic
laws of supply, demand and
monopoly. The secondary
ones stem from environmental
political situations and involve
personal consumption
patterns.
These limitations can be
seen concretely in the form of
rising fuel prices, increasing
interdependence, and increas
ingly centralized distribution
patterns. This is the present
strategy being followed by the
necessity to obtain and
distribute renewable resources
while reducing consumption.
The immediate effect of
rising fuel prices is reduced
consumption. This reduced
consumption means that we
drive our cars less, going only
to "important" places, lower
our house temperature, buy
more economical products,
and other small changes. This
requires making value judge
ments. What is an "important"
place? Store owners say
stores are, industries and
government claim work, others
claim friend's homes.
I consider countryside
cruising, fall leaves, and
endless beaches the most
important. Lowering your
home's temperature may be a
Guilfordian
matter of more social conse
quence or law, as in New
Jersey last year. How fairly
would a mandatory house
temperature limit be adminis
tered? VOu already know that
answer. Class divisions
immediately arise when
products are bought by
economical considerations.
A 1978 Cadillac or some other
road hog will carry more status
as us folks got to buy that
cheaper model; this can arise
regardless of the original
sticker price.
Conspicuous consumption
occurs as economic energy
considerations gain importance
- read status. These are only
some of the ways rising fuel
prices affect our lives, our
laws, and our society.
Increased interdependence
results in increased vulnerabil
ity. This interdependence is
based in economics which
underlies much of societies
decisions and problems. Inter
locking national economics
became necessary so we
could gain access to increas
ingly valuable fuel resources.
As nations grow in sophis
tication and pressing social
needs increase each economy/
society becomes more
complex. Can you picture
society as an animal looking
for food? Tempest, our pet
society eats only green moss
from the north side of trees.
This strange, but friendly beast
can eat only while sitting by
his favorite stream on his
favorite pet rock. Consequent
ly, Tempest has eaten all the
moss on every tree in a 3
mile radius. Each year he gets
a little bigger and hungrier.
At first Tempest needed to
travel only 1 mile round trip
to stay happy, healthy, and
playful. Last year the round
trip was 6 miles. Our poor
clumsy friend spends most of
the time just bringing moss
back to the rock. Our smart
beastie has figured out
ingenious ways to find and
carry lots of moss at a time.
We are waiting to find out
how he does next year when
he has to go 10 miles and the
year after that. . .
Tempest is most inter
esting to watch in the winter
when the road freezes over,
you should see him slip and
slide. Poor Tempest hardly
has any time left to play, but
he sure is fun to watch. After
all the man at the store
promised us a life time of
entertainment.
If Tempest ate oil and had
not only natural obsticles but
human ones too, such as
governments and terrorists
(sometimes it is hard to tell
the difference), the situation
might sound more familiar.
Increasing interdependence
and complexity means our
energy is continually going
through more' hands on a
larger route. These hands
must be coordinated and
work together. This makes
an international conglomerate
the most efficient way to
transport energy. The conglo
merate must follow economic
standards and grow.
Alternative routes of
getting energy are caused by
competition and by the com
plexities of economic inter
locks. The route becomes
more dangerous every year.
Larger tankers risk greater
spills, longer pipelines risk
greater terrorist attack.
Protections add still more
hands and more complexities.
Each hand, each complexity,
is a vulnerable spot. Some
thing wrong at any one of
these spots and our energy
supplies will sit unused while
society starves, or freezes, or
whatever. This is the hidden
limitation of increasing
interdependance.
Increasing, centralized
distribution patterns are seen
in electricity, natural gas, and
oil. This has been the most
efficient method of distributing
our energy resources. Along
with centralized energy sources
comes concentrated social
power. Only a few people
decide which group will be
allowed to buy energy and at
what price. Competition for
use is between industries who
use large amounts at
discount rate and consumers
who use individually smaller
amounts at higher rates. Lack
of nonrenewable resources
means that there has to be a
way to share within our
society.
The question is how fairly
can this be accomplished?
The control of resources is in
the hands of the government
and centralized companies -
utilities. The government
makes the rules and regula
tions. Still lacking an energy
plan and subject to intense
lobbying from various indus
tries these regulations are
often vague, contradictory,
and always numerous. The
utility companies are set up,
supported, and regulated by
the government, but unlike a
government agency they
need to operate at a profit.
It is the utilities and central
ized companies that decide
to whom and where to sell
their products. The decision
making structures of these
companies have little or no
consumer representation.
Page 9
after all they started out as
a type of private enterprise.
These decisions are there
fore going to be based on
profit and economics over
social needs. Consumers
have little voice and can be
easily split. Natural gas
companies can cause regional
disputes between consumers,
and even their local govern
ments, but uneven regional
supply. Different areas of a
city may be subjected to differ
ent amounts and timing of
brownouts during electricity
shortages. These factors tend
to diffuse and weaken con
sumer voice. In this way a
centralized energy source
becomes concentrated social
power. This power is felt
when an individual consumer
tries to argue with a utility
company. At the end of the
ranting and ravings is a feeling
of futility and frustration that
reaches to the core.
Our energy needs must be
met, of that we all agree.
The limitations must be
dealt with. How we are to
meet our needs is being
thought out now. Your
thoughts and concerns can
affect the energy plan now
being fought out in the halls
of Congress and the back
rooms of - we won't say where.
There are ways high fuel
prices can spur the drive to
find alternative energy sources,
and increased interdependence
with it's vulnerability can give
way to independence and
adaptibility. There are
thoughts that see alternative
sources of energy eliminating
the need for restrictions.
This is the first of a series
of articles that hope to show
how these possibilities can be
realized through a variety of
ways. We will have many
articles explaining our present
energy situation, the state of
our resources, pressing issues
such as nuclear power, and on
innovative technology being
developed. I hope this will
provide the basis of informa
tion needed to make the energy
choices that will affect your
life and the future society.
Anyone who would like to
help write, learn, explore,
and form an Energy Aware
ness Group can do so by
contacting any one of the
following people:
Tane Datta, Box 17121
Lyles Neal, Box 17440,
Hobbs No. 36.
Susie Gingrich, Box 17218,
Hobbs No. 6.
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