Today, standing next to my car, loading in gas at $2.95 a gallon, I thought about a friend who lives in Austin, Texas. She had just written to tell me she is now spending $40 a week to fuel her Honda, so she can drive to church and sing in her choir. (When you read this, these prices may evoke a fond memory. In Beverly Hills, it is already over $4 a gallon.) Even President Bush has gone on record as saying it is going to be a “tough summer.”1 Like junkies in need of a fix, the United States remains dependent on oil and subject to all the vicissitude’s of doing business in regions with unstable and violent governments or in the midst of a civilization-changing reformation whose outcome is highly problematic.
But in Iceland and Brazil, things look a little different. Brazil expects to become free of petroleum dependency and become energy self-sufficient this year. Iceland plans to do the same in six years. The two nations will do this not by cutting back on consumption but by meeting growing demand for fuel through innovative technologies, coupled with a national will and consistent governmental intentions.
Publication History: Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing
July 2006 (Vol. 2, Issue 4, Pages 302-303)
