December 12, 1973

Crisis - Opportunity

The wise man who said "Problems are only opportunities to do better" may have foreseen our current energy crisis.

Thermostats are down to 68, and the cost of gasoline may soon be up to the same figure.

Cadillacs are on their way to museums, and the bicycles of yore are now outselling automobiles.

Weekend driving is limited to one tank of fuel, but the family Sunday dinner is back in style.

William Simon, the new U.S. energy czar, sums up our problem and its solution neatly: "It is obvious that we have been a nation of great energy wastrels.  We have been accustomed to over abundance of cheap energy.  That day has ended.  We must change our lifestyles and be more thoughtful."

Three cheers!

We all will benefit greatly with a little more thought and considerably less waste.

Americans have always lived like there was no tomorrow.

Our natural resources were so abundant and easy to dig out that it was cheaper to get more than to develop efficient machines.  But it was an unequal race, the progress of which was obscured by easy living.

Though the reality of life on this finite planet is now seen as hard and cold, the ingenuity of man most likely will find good ways to adapt to a changing environment.

Human nature being what it is - apathetic and pleasure-loving, amongst other more positive characteristics - we react to great problems only when they become a crisis.

Yet, even this distressing tendency is offset by the employment it provides for prophets, poets, politicians and publishers of newspapers.

In just a few short weeks we have discovered many important benefits from the life-style changes forced upon us.

Auto accidents are down sharply, along with deaths and mutilation.

Mass transit plans - essential to viable cities - finally have been nudged off the drawing boards.

The railroads which were tottering on the verge of oblivion have been snatched back to life.

Our balance of trade has been nudged nearer our favor, and the value of the dollar to purchase goods abroad has started up.

Pipelines, refineries, coal mines, and fuel exploration have been given a green light to expand.

Long range we can expect even more dramatic results from our "crisis."

The massive, technological assault launched last week by the President and Congress on the U.S. energy problem promises self sufficiency by 1980 - and sensible use of our power resources thereafter.

With this self sufficiency we also will be freed from the political pressures for military adventures to relieve the power appetites of ourselves or our allies.

The quest for inexhaustible sources of power will be greatly speeded with a better than-even chance we will find it before our fossil fuels are gone.

Cleaner, more efficient methods of using our present fuel sources will be developed.

Supplementary sources of power - nuclear, solar, chemical - will move from laboratory curiosities to practicality.

We have great difficulty getting along with each other for our natures change slowly - if at all.

But we excel in technical challenges.

The energy crisis is a technological problem leading itself to organization, and imagination, and computers, and ingenious machines.

We will solve this crisis IF:

• If we accept the blame for it collectively instead of trying to use the crisis as a weapon to shoot down our favorite bogey man.
• If we keep our cool and don't panic into "save me, and to hell with thee" measures.
• If we tighten our belt with a smile.
• If we let our private companies make enough profit to invest in research and development.
• If we balance human needs and environment realistically.
• If we work together, and share together.  

These really aren't very big "ifs".

The Chinese write the word "crisis" with two characters.  One means "danger."  The other means "opportunity."

It is a thoughtful wedding of ideas to serve as a guide-post in the next few months.

Author: Lindsey Williams