Now or Never

It seams as though the general public, the Daily Iowan (Not so wise to trust ethanol - 5/27/2006), and most politicians are all in consensus with the issue of renewable fuels: “Well that solution is just going to cost too much money, let’s wait till something better comes around.” This philosophy is the reason we have the problems in our world today. For the most part our parents and grandparents did their part to do nothing at all or only fix the immediate environmental impacts of everyday life. If we wait around for the technology to get better, we may dig a hole so deep we may never get out. This is a simple problem. The auto industry says they want ethanol to be more readily available before they will produce a greater number of flex-fuel vehicles. The fuel industry says it wants to see more flex-fuel cars on the market before it commits to ethanol. Both sides need to swallow their pride and take the hit to their pockets for the good of everyone. E-85 is no where near the solution to our pollution and oil dependence problems, but it’s a great step in the right direction. We as a population may suffer some costs as well in buying new flex-fuel vehicles that will in turn cost us more over time at the pump because of reduced mileage. Wake up people, if we live our life pinching every penny, our children and grandchildren are going to have some serious problems to deal with. I’m frankly disappointed with the Daily Iowan that it would take such a conservative stance to sit around and see what happens. Even if ethanol isn’t the answer, we need to push to find other RENEWABLE sources, and I would have thought the Daily Iowan could have been a little more positive; calling for the students of the University of Iowa, especially those in the College of Engineering and Biochemical Majors, to step forward and take on the challenge of solving this important problem. There is no time to wait around for what comes next, the time to act is now. Maybe ethanol is not what we need to act upon, but we need to try something…now.

Note: This blog was published in the Daily Iowan Letters to the Editor, May 1st, 2006.