The solution is hemp for ethanol.

Nuclear power is the solution. Except for the accidents, not just meltdowns but spent fuel fires, transportation accidents, terrorism threats... And except for the daily deadly releases, the eternal waste storage problem, proliferation issues, costs, lengthy construction time, a history of lying and cover-ups (look at the (reluctantly admitted) tritium leaks at about 30% of our reactors), foreign-made parts (look at the capacitor problems the have plagued the computer industry, and realize how many of our nukes are running on shoddy parts), over-complexity (look at the oscillating power-runaway issues identified by outside experts but ignored by industry "experts"), plus it's not distributed small-scale power, so when a nuke goes down, hundreds of thousands of people loose power... plus grid-power backup issues (the big Northeast blackout was largely due to all the nukes having to shut down when they lost offsite power), the water-use issues (billions of gallons a day are polluted by each nuke, millions of gallons are churned to steam each day; France had to shut down a swarm of nukes due to lack of water a few summers ago. They aren't very efficient even under the best of circumstances, requiring thousands of workers where wind turbines can run virtually autonomously, as can hydro, solar, etc... Also, all our current nukes are old and decrepit, embrittled and rusted, and the plans don't match the reactors anymore, they've been modified so many times and the original designers are long-gone. Fission products kill.

See my book, which can be downloaded free from my web site: www.acehoffman.org

Yes, this is simplistic. Certainly not as deeply complex as "Drill, Baby, Drill", or pretty much anything else that oozes from the sound-holes of that ilk.

I also agree that the notion of riding a bicycle to work is just as simplistic. Unworkable for about 95% of people in this country. And I've done it before, in rush hour traffic in Houston. Talk about taking your life in your hands.

If you'd like to take aim a bit of lower-hanging fruit, how about packaging? Am I the only person who's noticed that plastic packaging is out of control? Go to your local supermarket and try, just try, to buy groceries for your family for a week without buying anything plastic. Can't be done.

All of that plastic packaging is a petroleum product. Now tell me, how necessary is that? Let's start by putting plastic packaging manufacturers out of business.

Why don't I ride a bike to work? Because I live 15 miles away over torn-up roads under construction, I leave in the morning when it's dark, I don't have a place to shower the sweat off once I get to work, and oh yeah - I don't want to be hit by a car.

This is oversimplified to the point of stupidity, and unfunny. Get a job. Then you can stop moaning and buy a hybrid.

"Why don't you just ride a bike?" Stupidest alternative ever.

Let's just say the average commute is half an hour to forty minutes. That works out to about thirty to forty miles of travel.

I average ten miles an hour on my mountain bike.

So, this guy is suggesting that we spend 3-4 hours commuting in each direction! Not to mention that you'd have to wake up at four in the morning to make this commute possible (if you had to be at work at 9 AM).

Worse yet, after a 3-4 hour bike ride, you'd be pretty much useless to your employer.

Then, after working all day, you'd have to schlep your tired butt home, only to arrive with maybe two hours left of "me time".

This idea basically makes commuting a full time job in and of itself. An unpaid job at that.

lol oil isn't from dinosaurs. Mostly rotted plants.

I ride the subway. For a car:

$250/mo. car payment +
$125/mo. gas +
$240/mo. insurance +
$150/mo. average maintenance/upkeep/repair cost +
$75/mo. parking
---------------------------------------------------
$840/mo.

If you're lucky.

Why do I drive

1. Public transportation is either ineffective or non existant. fares are expensive and the drivers are idiots who are always late.

2. I live far away.

3. Im disabled and can't use a car.

Liberate the Lizard Juice!
Drill baby drill - Spill baby spill - Shrill babies still - still, baby, still - shush now.

Nuclear Power!

Huh?

Why drive a car? Because I live 9 miles away from work and the store thats why.

I drive a car because the only home I can afford is 40 miles away from work.

Hi Mark! I'm watching your cartoons for more than 8 years and this one is the funniest ever! Congrats on that Pulitzer you deserved it! Keep on going!

Awesome, Mark! Loved it.

On Mars we use solar power to drive the rovers. Renewable energy is ready to power our world too. I have been "off-grid" for 18 years and power my Bug-E transportation with excess energy from a wind/solar electric power system. No nukes.

The only other real alternative to fossil fuels is nuclear energy and for now that is fission [fusion would be far better and safer but that is still in the research phase], everything else i.e. renewable is far too dilute and unreliable..[baring a large multi-billionare dollar solar satellite that beams energy back to earth]...and that is the god awful truth!

For the most part it is not a matter of preference it’s a matter of necessity....

Spoiled by the sharp wit usually contained within. Was the Little Green Man here is search of a punchline? If so, he didn't yet find it.

Think he'll drill for it?

Well, not NEARLY as much fun as a Dog-boy and Mr. Dan, but an interesting diversion none-the-less :-)

I'd love to bike to work (I'm a marathon runner) and I'm not too far from my work (7 miles) but I STILL can't. The only way to get to work is to go on narrow and extremely busy roads with no bike lanes, sidewalks, or shoulder. I can't afford to live closer to work (I'm poor).

I think there are many people that would be willing to seek alternative transportation means but are not able for a myriad of reasons.

BRILLIANT!

CONGRATULATIONS ON THE PULITZER!

How about some strips about the lack of conservation when it comes advertising lighting, over lit
BP stations, architectural lighting left running through the night, etc.? There are a billion ways to waste.

The power companies and the government urges us to dial down thermostats at home, while corporate America increases its waste with lighting designed to distract the public from the hard tasks at hand.

Keep dishing it out, o courageous one! Your satirical ancestors and relatives--Clemens, Seuss, Nasby, Trudea, Capp and so on--are proud of you, I am sure!

ericgj@bex.net

Interesting. Picture a world where there were no commuters. Using super-high-tech gadgets called "computers" people could do most of the jobs from any place one can get reliable internet connection. Some time far into the future you may even be able to get these internet connections through magical air waves. don't we still need our squeezings for pretty much everything else we do too?

Holy lizard juice, was that Mark's voice?

Introducing "Little Green Man!" Let him know what you think about BP and their oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. What would he say to Obama?

-MF