Torrens Talk
TORRENS TALK
TORRENS TALK
TORRENS TALK
TORRENS TALK
Torrens Talk
TORRENS TALK
Last week’s article was an overview of the Washington State Ferries (WSF) meeting held at the Bainbridge Commons. This column is a more in-depth look at what was discussed.
Attending information-gathering meetings can be very educational. It can tell a lot about the organization seeking the input. Sometimes the agenda is very clear and the information sought is to determine which way to go. Other times, the agenda is stated but what is not brought up says more about what is really going on. The latter is the kind people have learned to distrust and with good reason – they are aimed at getting the answer the group asking for the input wants.
It is the latter type that I experienced when I went to the Bainbridge meeting that Washington State Ferries (WSF) recently held.
Attending information-gathering meetings can be very educational. It can tell a lot about the organization seeking the input. Sometimes the agenda is very clear and the information sought is to determine which way to go. Other times, the agenda is stated, but what is not brought up says more about what is really going on. The latter is the kind people have learned to distrust and with good reason — they are aimed at getting the answer that the group asking for the input wants.
The season of terror is now underway. It is fireworks time.
Because of liberal laws regarding private use and the abundance of stands, both tribal and non-tribal fireworks can be heard exploding virtually everywhere in the county. If people would use them appropriately and safely, they would be tolerable. But, there are too many who do not. These folks are the problem that causes headaches and heartaches for the rest of us.
TORRENS TALK
TORRENS TALK
It is too bad that it takes soaring fuel and concomitant food prices to get people to do what they should have been doing all along: buying local.
It is too bad that it takes soaring fuel and concomitant food prices to get people to do what they should have been doing all along: buying local.
Gasoline now averages $4 a gallon. It is a level that most thought they would never see in their lifetime. And, it is expected to go higher – possibly to $5 per gallon by the end of the summer.
The price hike has far exceeded any cost of living adjustments people get in their pay or retirement incomes. It is making it much harder for people to get by and causing many to cut back on things that make life enjoyable such as vacations, family outings, visits to family and friends.
It is putting a big crimp in the national economy. People are now beginning to discover how much of our daily lives use petroleum-based products: roads, driveways and tennis courts that use asphalt; plastics in piping, containers and molds. It is a reliance on items that most cannot conceive of doing without.
So, it begs the question – how far can this go before everything really goes south?
Of course, if there are major changes in government policies on energy use and consumption and the public takes its blinders off by realizing it is a big part of the problem, then something can be done to avoid a calamity.
The oil embargo/crisis of the 1970s could have been the turning point on putting the US onto the road of energy self-sufficiency. Instead, we blamed Carter and his seemingly unfeeling response to people not wanting to turn the heat down: “put on a sweater.” We wanted Reagan and his view that America can do no wrong and that whatever path we take, it is the right one. We didn’t need to conserve energy or look at requiring fuel-efficient cars. We should let the marketplace decide what we should have. If we wanted to drive fast in big heavy vehicles that consume gas, then so be it. What matter that oil is a finite resource and when it runs out, that’s it. Since it would not happen in the foreseeable future, why worry about it?
Well, that time is approaching far more rapidly than anticipated. The energy consumption of China now rivals the United States and its economy is much stronger than ours at this point. The demand has exceeded the available supply and with the free market in action, prices have gone up dramatically.
Just as the conclusion reached in “Who Killed the Electric Car?” pointed to all facets of society, so, too, can the culprits in the price hikes in gasoline and petroleum production be identified. The oil industry has been likened to a drug pusher by getting the United States hooked on gasoline for powering its transportation vehicles. Consumers have become heavy users, ever demanding bigger size and comfort over fuel-efficiency and smaller cars. Government policies have kowtowed to the automobile and energy industries, thereby stymieing any real progress in making the United States energy independent.
For too long we have been told we can have whatever we want without any cost to ourselves. And, certainly, we don’t need to pay attention to what may happen in the future since that will be someone else’s problem, not ours.
It is a selfish, self-serving approach to life that we are loath to give up.
O, for the days of regulated airlines. Prices and routes were predictable. Airlines provided good customer service. They offered incentives to travel with them: free hot meals, pillows and blankets, unlimited free checked baggage. And that was for all flyers, including coach. Nowadays, that sounds like something from a fantasy, especially if one flies coach.
TORRENS TALK
This past weekend I had the pleasure of seeing a film that is truly life affirming. “Young at Heart” is the story of a group of about two dozen septuagenarians and octogenarians plus one nonagenarian who have become an international hit as a chorus group.
TORRENS TALK
