Of Clean Air and Global Warming

Apparently, experts are saying that the wild, record-setting hurricane season last year was a result of global warming. Also, according to this cnn.com article, the Bush administration believes that global warming is an unproven theory (much in the same way evolution is an unproven theory?). Finally, as a result of high fuel prices, President Bush is pushing to lower Clean Air standards in order to boost oil production, thus driving down prices for American consumers.

To be fair, the President has also proposed cutting back tax incentives from heavy-profit oil companies, since they have recorded record profits and obviously don't need those incentives. In a further show of bravery, Bush has also ordered probes into gas price-gouging. This, however, is where my praise ends. All three of the problems I outlined above are related, and I would like to point out that cheap gas now will spell a much more bitter price to be paid later (remember Hurricane Katrina?).

Although the matter is still open to debate, many experts believe that the record 2005 hurricane season was a direct result of global warming. The waters in the Carribean sea got warmer, thus hurricanes had a perfect environment in which to form and grow into devastating storms. As we learned from last year's season, hurricanes in the Gulf Coast spell bad news for oil, and as a result, the price at the pump goes up. With the conflicts in the Persian Gulf region and the threat of sanctions on Iran, the barrel has gone up to more than $70.

The "decider in chief" has proposed that we lower Clean Air standards to increase oil production, boosting the emission of green house gasses in the process. Since global warming is at least part of the problem with respect to the formation of chimeric hurricanes, wouldn't it stand to reason that lowering Clean Air standards is spelling disaster for the Gulf coast and other affected regions in the hurricane seasons to come?

Yes, gas prices are something that affect us all, and yes, it would be great if we could buy it for cheap, but what are the consequences of keeping gas prices artificially low? The current plan of attack is lowering environmental standards, which causes global warming (potentially causing cataclysmic natural disasters). Low gas prices also means there is no incentive to find alternate ways of fueling our cars, and thus deepens our dependence on non-renewable fuel sources.

The U.S. has some of the lowest gas prices in the world. Maybe a hike would make consumers and car manufacturers alike realize that they don't really need to buy or produce cars that get 15 miles a gallon. Energy conservation has always been an issue in this country, and the U.S. is one of the most wasteful nations on the planet. Perhaps there is something to be learned from this vicious cycle.