A Call to Revolution
America, what happened? This is what the experts have been warning us about. Now it's right in our face, and it won't go away. We are on the brink of a major energy crisis. This doesn't mean tomorrow we will all be riding bicycles to work, but in terms of severity, this problem needs to be addressed immediately.
We have reached a point where we need to drastically change our energy source(s). We are the ones we have been waiting for. A whole industry needs to be changed, not done away with, but changed. The automotive industry needs to totally change to electric, solar, fuel cell and biodiesel.
I believe we are in dire need of an energy revolution. This has to be a complete societal change. This crisis is not going to be solved by 12 ultra-talented people in a faroff lab with lots of money. Every single person has to contribute to the long-term life of our planet or down the road we will not only see an economic collapse but an environmental collapse. Every other country looks at the United States to see what we are doing; we could set the bar high for the rest of world to follow. So get educated, reduce your own waste of energy, and talk to your politicians, the media and government. Because everything starts with the people.
Christopher Tucker
Amherst
From the Blogger Collab
I would like the opportunity to respond to a couple of issues raised by Tommy Devine in the article "One-Stop Blogging"[Dec. 4, 2008] as well as Robert Underwood's letter to the editor on that same story [Dec. 25, 2008]. Devine said that our plan for Pioneer Valley Central (PVC) was "socialist" because it rewarded quantity over self-perceived quality. In fact, our plan for PVC is evolving as we go along. We are not set on any one model, since—with the exception of celebrity collaboratives like Huffington Post—there is as yet no real, successful model to go by. As far as contributor recognition goes, we are attempting to find ways to fairly reward those writers who are most productive in their writing. If Tommy had a better way of devising this, then as a member of our group, perhaps he should have spoken to us about it. Instead, months went by and none of us heard any misgivings or criticisms from him regarding our ideas until after Maureen Turner contacted him about her story.
Regarding Underwood's assertion that blogs "are no better informed" than any average letter to the editor, although many blogs are unorganized jumbles of rants, there are a few, including some excellent ones in the Valley, that are quite informative and well researched. It is unfortunate that Underwood has apparently never visited them.
Bill Dusty
The Springfield Intruder
