Please take a few short minutes to think about the future, and in specific, how the politics and the economics of oil (and peak oil) will play out in terms of potential for a local economy. Serious and grievous (ongoing) harms have been wrought upon humanity, upon biological systems and biological diversity, upon various environments, and upon the Earth as a holistic body— by human societies that are now, more or less, wed-locked to a fossil fuel driven industrial lifestyle. It's a culture of consumption that is enabled by, and which has been fueled by, copious quantities of petroleum products, and other fossil fuels.

Would it make sense to break away cleanly from this terrible reality? —A reality of waging war, killing over mineral and other material resources, invading and occupying foreign nations —for the express purpose of "global dominance" (a policy of which oil is necessary.) Would it make sense to find alternatives, so that humanity and the Earth don't suffer ongoing, and continuously more severe harms, as a result of human beings' and societies' economic behavior? Examples of harmful behavior include: global warming / climate disruption, and pollution of Earth, Air and Water.

For example, we, as a society, might decide at a time like this, that clear-cutting forests is just not working out.

Here are some photos from the Monday, October 6, 2008 No LNG Rally at the Washington State Capitol Campus Legislative Building.

No to LNG Washington State Capitol Campus Rally

LNG Means:
• More Global Warming
• More Big Oil Profiteering
• More Wars

We want renewable energy.
Power Vote

http://www.powervote.org/

When: Tomorrow, Monday October 6, 2008 from 11 to 1 (or 2)
Where: State Capitol Legislative Building Steps (North side of building)

The No LNG workshop at Traditions earlier tonight was informative. I learned that there are a number of good reasons to be opposed to a proposed LNG terminal on the banks of the Columbia River in Southern Washington State. The composition of the opposition is grass roots; it's a coalition of local stake-holders who would be affected by the Bradford Landing liquid natural gas terminal, as well as advocates for environmental justice.

Tomorrow's rally will call on Governor Gregoire to assist the peoples' opposition to this unnecessary and environmentally harmful project. The office of the Governor has made noises about even going so far as suing to stop the Houston based NorthernStar Energy Group's efforts to develop LNG terminals and pipelines - given the lack of appropriate state level input, environmental review, and oversight. The proposal has thus far been pushed and ferried through under authority of the 5 person Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), although one member of the Bush Administration appointed commission, Jon Wellinghoff, who is also the only one to have met with concerned stake-holders, has written a powerful and substantive dissent of the FERC position (to permit) the NorthernStar LNG endeavors. Find out more about that at tomorrow's rally! (More detailed information is available on the FERC website, as well.)

Jay Manning from the Dep. of Ecology will be among the speakers. There will be important information about what exactly is going down with proposals for pipelines and shipping terminals, the natural gas market, and the dangers and environmental pitfalls of the LNG trade.

No to global warming! No to LNG! Yes to renewable/sustainable energy! Yes to a better tomorrow!

More information: No LNG [http://nolng.net/]

[correction: It's the "NorthernStar Natural Gas" Energy Group that has proposed the Bradwood Landing LNG Terminal and associated pipelines, not the "Northstar Energy Group", as previously stated above, article amended to reflect correction.

Also for more information please see: River Vision: Renewable Energy Sources, Columbia River Vision.]