This is from the Energy Bulletin:

Deepwater Horizon and the Addiction to Growth
by Dan Bednarz

“The Gulf of Mexico oil blowout carries the emotional wallop and learning potential of a near-death experience. First, it certifies that the age of cheap and plentiful oil is over. Second, it reveals that our collective faith in technology to overcome any challenge posed by nature is a dangerous delusion. Third, it may be the event that sets our nation on the path to genuine economic and ecological sustainability.

“To understand why the age of cheap and plentiful oil is over we must ask why BP was drilling for oil in a foreboding environment. The answer has two parts: 1) the giant deposits of easy to reach oil on land have been exploited, so it’s drill in harsh environments or nothing; and 2) despite claims by proponents of various petroleum alternatives and renewables, we have no viable, ready to go scalable substitutes for oil.”

For a couple of years in the late 1970s, I played chess every Saturday night with Willard Keim. He was a UH-Hilo Political Science professor and the Big Island Chess Champion. We played with chess clocks and we wrote each game down. During the course of the evening, we normally had time for two games, which frequently concluded after 1 a.m.

I did not win many games. But I learned one important lesson from Will – to ”play the position in front of you; not the position you wish you had.” After a while, I knew that when I lost it was because he was the better player, not because I had lost my sense of reality.

And so today, when I evaluate our energy situation, I try to make sure I am evaluating the situation as it is, not how I wish it were. This is why I say that “Wishing and hoping is not an energy plan.”

We on the Big Island are so fortunate to have the gift of geothermal, which will allow future generations to not only cope but prosper.

For the sake of future generations, can we be smart enough, determined enough and tough enough to keep this once-in-a-civilization opportunity from slipping though our fingers?

And can we bring all our people together? We do not have the luxury of time. And we must not focus on this part of the island or that part of the island; or this culture or that.

We are one island and one people and we must work to take care of all of us.