The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 514
Instead, they both rely on lies and exaggerations about ethanol to make all the
same old sophomoric arguments related to the national economy, food, subsidies, and comparative energy content. This shows that they either know nothing
about the workings of an internal combustion engine, or subsidies, or business
and economics, or they simply decided to put their knowledge aside in the hope
that anyone reading their books would also not know anything.
In the first chapter of Alex's book, he recounts a chance meeting he had with a
college-age Greenpeace volunteer on the streets of Irvine, California. The
young woman calls out to him, “Do you want to help us end our addiction to
dirty fossil fuels and use clean, renewable energy instead?”
To which Alex replied, “Actually, I study energy for a living— and I think it’s good
that we use a lot of fossil fuels. I think the world would be a much better place
if people used a lot more.”
Alex writes that he expected a series of retorts from the young lady, and how
he would have responded to them. Some of the things he hoped she would say
were:
• That fossil fuels cause climate change.
• That fossil fuels cause pollution.
• That fossil fuels are not renewable.
• That solar and wind can replace fossil fuels.
Alex's hypothetical responses would have basically concluded with details
about how ingenuity and technology can (or eventually will) clean up the pollution, and how solar and wind is intermittent and unreliable. His closing comment
would be that fossil fuels "...is the only source of energy that has been able to
provide cheap, plentiful, reliable energy for the billions of people whose lives
depend on it."
However, Alex writes, the young woman didn't respond in the manner he expected. I would say that he was left in a state of, um, let's call it "unfulfilled
satisfaction," therefore he created this fantasy discussion - what some might
call a straw man argument - to relive over and over like a sexual fantasy.
If I was present at the time and place and overheard the exchange between
Alex and Miss Greenpeace, and the conversation took place along the lines
