Energy Independence

 

                Hello, and welcome to my blog! Yesterday I read an article by Clifford Krauss and Eric Lipton titled We’ve Got the Power. This article covered how an increase in oil and gas production and increased conservation are bringing the U.S. closer to energy independence.

                All across the U.S., the oil and gas industry is increasing at a quickening rate. Also, the U.S. has decreased their overall gasoline usage. Many have switched to alternative fuels or more fuel-efficient vehicles. Together, these actions are making the United States less dependent on the somewhat hostile countries from which we receive most of our gasoline. In the past three years, we have reduced 20% of gasoline imports from foreign countries. With the new technology of fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, oil and gas can be extracted from a large amount of underground area, making the collection much more effective and making it easier to acquire oil and gas. Also, climate change is causing oil consumption to decrease. As people become more environment-friendly, they are burning less oil and gas. Overall, the U.S. is getting very close to achieving the goal of energy independence.

                I believe that the United States is fully capable of quickly reaching this goal, as long as everyone becomes a little more energy conscious. With fracking and the climate change, America is changing rapidly and is becoming much more independent energy-wise. Also, with many more fuel-efficient cars on the road today, energy usage decreases even more. Within a few years, America could soon become almost completely energy independent.

 

Picture: http://legalplanet.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/fracking-diagram.gif

Women in the Military

               Hello, and welcome back to my blog. A little while ago, I read an article called Sisters in Arms by James Dao. This article was about the fact that the U.S. military just recently lifted their long-standing ban on women in combat.

                In January of this year, the Department of Defense announced that it will be lifting the ban on women in combat.  Now over 200,000 combat roles are open to women as well as men, although the standards needed to join will not be lowered to make it easier for women to get the jobs. Non-combat jobs in the military have been available to women for many years, but combat jobs have not been. Yet women have still gotten injured and even killed in battle, so it was only a matter of time before they were allowed to have actual combat roles. 12% of the Americans serving in the armed forces since 2001 have been women, and the public generally agrees with lifting the ban. Now officers in the army can appoint the best person for the job, regardless of gender. Women are fully capable of carrying the same equipment as men, and can fill the combat roles just as well.

                I believe that this ban was pointless in the first place, as there was no need for it. Why should women be kept out of combat, but men allowed in it? Women are just as able to participate in close combat as men, and have been for years. Even if they aren’t formally in combat, they still shoot and get shot and even die. They are just as capable of carrying heavy equipment and living in rougher conditions. Times have changed, and nowadays the ban just seemed silly, so I believe it was right to remove it. The ban was pointless and ineffective.

 

 

Picture:https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw6JsesHbwzWFoDSCsEKejHpJED2LjH3bn8lYVsqOqiMTeSgqa9SRKJUhlbKF53SCSdhrO4I7ZC7iN1Bp1kcC2aoiYU8AmlzJZEBp1Vj-H6OrxCkiuOV-XG450XGq0PjHEYf3GOoQlvRzm/s1600/photo1.jpg