The Fourth Necessity?

You check the cupboards and realize that you are out of groceries and badly in need of toilet paper. You wake up to the sound of a buzzing in your ear from the alarm clock you set the night before. You shower, possibly shave, get dressed and head out the door. But what comes next? Well in the world of today you climb into your car and head off to the store or to work. These are tasks that we all participate in on a regular basis. We are constantly traveling from point A to point B within the comfy confines of our vehicles. Vehicles that require gasoline to run and require it too often especially for you drivers of those hated gas guzzlers. But until we have engines that will run off of water or garbage like in Back to the Future, this is just something we have to live with, or is it? We have come to depend on oil, but is it necessary, or better yet is it a necessity? We can all list the basic necessities for human survival. Those would include food, clothing, and shelter. It might be said that oil is our fourth necessity. Our behavior towards oil would certainly suggest as much. We drive to school, work, and sometimes down the street at midnight for a convenience store burrito. We are consumers of energy and the demand keeps growing. The problem is trying to produce enough supply to keep up with demand. And despite what some may say the United States is not the only consumers with India and China producing greater and greater demand themselves. And when we try to create supply we are met with opposition from the left. They fear the impact it will have on the Earth. I understand their sensitivity about protecting the planet. As a Christian I understand the responsibility we have to be good stewards of God's creation. But we must also live in this world and we should use the minds and resources we were given to the fullest extent. This means building more refineries, nuclear plants, and drilling in Alaska and off our coasts. We need to at least explore these options until we come up with better alternatives. And I do not think corn is the answer, and that is coming from someone from Iowa. If we want cheaper energy we need to explore every option. I think of the people who complain about soaring gas prices and how they decry the efforts to build new refineries. I also think about the Kennedy family and their objections to windmills being built in sight of their compound. It is kind of like do it as long as it does not inconvenience me. Or in the minds of liberals, do as I say not as I do. the same statement could be applied to Al Gore. His house consumes great amounts of energy and with his many commitments he has to speak on global warming he flies around on his private jets. Meanwhile he talks about purchasing carbon credits to offset the footprints he is making on our planet. Reducing our dependance on oil would be both beneficial to our national security and to our wallets. But we must come to this rationally and intelligently. Maybe we do treat oil as a necessity. Our lives are built around convenience and driving fits or culture of convenience. It is certainly more convenient to drive a car somewhere then to hitch up the horse and buggy. We must not let the hyperbole about global warming to cloud our judgement. Is oil our fourth necessity? I do not know the answer to that. I think it is as close as it can be and as long as we depend on it to the extent we do we will be asking that question.