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Teaching about energy issues and energy independence using the Internet.

Article Excerpt
Energy issues have moved up the public agenda in recent decades, and were highlighted in President Bush's State of the Union address when he declared, "America is addicted to oil...." Later in the speech, he pledged to "replace more than 75 percent of oil imports from the Middle East by 2025." The specific identification of the Middle East is interesting, since the proportion of our imported oil that comes from the Middle East is only in the range of about 19 to 22 percent. Most of our imported oil comes from the Western Hemisphere--Canada, Mexico, and Venezuela.

In his fascinating book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Jared Diamond examines the fall of civilizations such as Rome, the Maya of Central America, and the "Anasazi" or Ancestral Puebloans of the southwestern United States. He applies a five-point framework of factors leading to a failed society or to one that faces challenges and survives. One of his five points includes the dependence on essential imported goods or products from another nation or nations. When that supply ends, because of war, inability to produce the product, or other reasons, the nation that is dependent suffers.

The parallel between Diamond's historical examples and the current position of the United States regarding oil imports and contemporary international relations is striking. President Bush, in announcing his Advanced Energy Initiative, not only called for reducing our dependence on oil, but also called for research and investment into clean coal-fired electric plants, solar and wind technologies, ethanol, and "clean, safe" nuclear energy.

I anticipate that this drive for more energy independence and development of alternative fuels will continue to be a major, and increasingly expanding public issue. Americans seem ready to break the addiction to oil and dependence on imported oil. It should be a topic of discussion in courses...