Oh, Uncle Buck!

The Obama Administration wants to switch subsidies from coal and oil to natural gas, solar, and nuclear power. This can be seen in two lights: that the administration is making as its first priority the reduction of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Or the second light: that the administration has subsidized one fossil fuel over another, and simply favors one industry over another. The switch from oil and coal to natural gas (not to mention subsidies aimed at storing carbon dioxide which is still subsidizing the coal and oil industries) reminds me of the film "Uncle Buck". An American classic, John Candy plays a gambling, smoking, drinking, dead-beat uncle that must watch over three children as their parents attend to one of the grandparents who has just suffered a heart attack. Candy has a brilliant monologue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDnfNzmV0FM

Uncle Buck's "5 year plan" serves as an excellent metaphor for the Obama Administration's energy policy regarding fossil fuels. The new subsidies redirect an addiction on a non-renewable resource to another non-renewable resource. From a longterm human-survival and sustainable lens this policy is a weak attempt, at best. But one cannot necessarily adopt such a lens given the current rigidity and pettiness of the political system. In a country where on party nearly summarily disavows global warming as a phenomenon, any administration that aims to limit greenhouse gases in the atmosphere comes up against stalwart political bulwark. I therefore contend that the Obama Administration's redirecting of subsidies to "cleaner" fuels such as nuclear, solar, and natural gas, though flawed, temporary, and minute, are the best we can ask for in such ridiculous times. If we are to arrive at more permanent, logical solutions for the problems that face our species, we first need reform in politics and media. If only.