Thursday, September 27, 2007
A friend of mine at work runs a blog called Risley Ranch, and aside from being incredibly well-versed in all things Social Media, he's an all around good guy who's taken on the challenge of bringing the rest of us up to speed in what we're calling Digital Ninja training. I've been following his blog from time to time and recently he posted an entry that mentioned the world's largest underground water source, the ogalalla aquifer. Many fans of ethanol-based fuels like to say we could be energy self-reliant if we only grew the corn to turn into ethanol to replace the petroleum we buy from offshore.
But too many people forget that it takes water to grow that corn to turn into ethanol (not to mention the energy it takes to convert corn to ethanol but that's another story), but the effect that ethanol-mania might have on that critical aquifer starting to come to the forefront more and more.
Now, as this blog develops, you'll see I'm not shy of burning fuel in the reckless pursuit of happiness, but I try to be at least a little responsible about it in the balance. No, I don't drive a Prius to work, but do little things here and there to reduce my family's impact on the environment. Most importantly, I realize there is no free lunch, that I do not have a God-given right to $1.75 gallons of gasoline to fill a Hummer 3x a week to drive myself and only myself to work, and that until we get real about that kind of thing, we are kidding ourselves about energy independence and ethanol's ability to solve it.
But too many people forget that it takes water to grow that corn to turn into ethanol (not to mention the energy it takes to convert corn to ethanol but that's another story), but the effect that ethanol-mania might have on that critical aquifer starting to come to the forefront more and more.
Now, as this blog develops, you'll see I'm not shy of burning fuel in the reckless pursuit of happiness, but I try to be at least a little responsible about it in the balance. No, I don't drive a Prius to work, but do little things here and there to reduce my family's impact on the environment. Most importantly, I realize there is no free lunch, that I do not have a God-given right to $1.75 gallons of gasoline to fill a Hummer 3x a week to drive myself and only myself to work, and that until we get real about that kind of thing, we are kidding ourselves about energy independence and ethanol's ability to solve it.
Alrighty...green flag!
OK then, as part of a project for work, I've been asked to start a blog. I've decided to make it more than a requirement, why, I'll leave my mark on the world, I'll be asked to appear on Speed Channel, I'll be called upon for expert testimony, I'll be one of those guys who always shows up with a juicy stat in USA Today, I'll be famous!
Well, maybe not so much, but at least I'll have fun and hopefully my readers will too, and both of them will shower me with adoring congratulations on my wit and wisdom about cars, driving, driving cars well (that would be "with aplomb" for you Automobile readers), and random things that tickle my fancy that I think might tickle yours.
Well, maybe not so much, but at least I'll have fun and hopefully my readers will too, and both of them will shower me with adoring congratulations on my wit and wisdom about cars, driving, driving cars well (that would be "with aplomb" for you Automobile readers), and random things that tickle my fancy that I think might tickle yours.
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