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Energy debate needs less heat, more light

Friday, July 25, 2008 10:23 PM CDT

Can we talk? That line was made famous by Joan Rivers, and it often got the comedian big laughs.

I'm using it for a different reason. We are so contentious, competitive and politically polarized as people, that I sometimes wonder if it is possible for our nation to discuss vital issues calmly, deliberately and honestly.

We quickly generate heat, but where is the light?

Try this test. Ask the next 10 people you see for their ideas on solving our national energy crisis. I'll bet you hear more lectures, tirades and condemnations against specific ideas than thoughtful suggestions of what needs to be done.

You likely will hear about the environmental wreckage that might accompany expanded off-shore oil exploration and production. Images of dead fish and oil-stained water fowl will dance in your head.

Someone will passionately argue against drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which is the homeland for various moose, bears and wolves. Images of homeless animals may cause you to lose sleep.

Nuclear energy is expanding globally, apparently without dire consequences, but any suggestion of the same in the U.S. will produce shrill cries about past mishaps at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.

Proposals for new coal-powered generators, or other uses of coal-based fuels, will likely focus more on the dangers of mining and airborne pollutants than on the future likelihood of clean coal technologies.

Suggestions of greater conservation by fuel users will invariably unleash concerns about the restriction of our individual freedoms and the looming fear of government-ordered rationing.

Talk of generating more power through the use of wind turbines, a common and harmless practice throughout much of windy Iowa, among other places in the world, will focus on the risks to birds and of the aesthetic damage to our landscape.

Alternative fuels will be dismissed as a fad or trigger fears of causing food shortages and the resulting price explosions in the grocery store.

Solar energy will be touted as "the answer" by sun zealots or dismissed as quackery for all but the most limited and specific applications.

See where I'm going? Any suggestion of strategies to ease the foreign-produced-oil stranglehold on our economy generally results in angry gridlock. What we really need to accept is that some combination of the aforementioned energy strategies will be necessary for a limited period of time.

I've been discussing this idea throughout the summer with members of the academic community at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. It's been an intriguing topic to pursue. The discussions have not yet degenerated into shouting matches, nor does that seem possible.

Energy is the all-consuming issue facing our generation. It is absolutely essential that we learn to talk about it calmly, collectively and consistently. What do you think?

GARY METRO is the editor of The Southern.

You can reach him at 351-5033 or gary.metro@thesouthern.com.