Fossil Fuels Are AWESOME

By Steve Trash - Illusionist, Eco-Educator, and Rockin' Eco Hero

This is not a joke.  I DO believe that Fossil fuels ARE awesome! Their use by humanity has allowed us to create giant cities, feed 7 billion people, travel into outer space, and, most important of all, make popcorn in under two minutes.  Our use of fossil fuels has even gotten us (I think you could reasonably argue) to the point that we're THE dominant creature on the planet Earth.  But there are serious consequences to the ways we use fossil fuels (energy and plastics for example). Burning fossil fuels for energy creates pollution. Fossil fuels are costly and difficult to get (most are deep deep beneath the Earths surface), they can be dangerous to store, and they are ultimately exhaustible.  It seems to me, that we (us humans) need to transition to more sustainable and less polluting source of energy. We need to "be" sustainable, just like the planet Earth. It sustains itself. For us to be truly sustainable (meaning... to use energy that does not pollute, and is practically inexhaustible) for all 7 billion of us, we must use the suns energy or other resources that can be renewed. The sun's energy is clean energy (when collected directly from the sun) and it's practically inexhaustible. If the sun were the size (for example) of a basketball, the Earth would be the size of a bb. That's a LOT of energy that we can capture and use. It's clean. It's green (meaning it works WITH nature not AGAINST nature). I look at our use of carbon based fuels, as if it were a, giant rocket ship taking off and traveling into outer space. Almost all the fuel a rocket uses (the vast majority) gets gets used up simply to get the rocket out of the Earth's orbit. Fossil Fuels have been amazing at getting humanity to a place where is can feed, cloth, and house everyone, but at some point the rocket starts to use its forward momentum to continue the journey. My idea is that we can now switch to renewable or inexhaustible and clean energy because we got the "rocket boost" from the amazing fossil fuels. I think that using small amounts of fossil fuels for high energy, non-repeated, human endeavors, kinda, actually, makes sense, but we destroy (burn) them, so they are never replaced... ever. So powering our cars, our homes, our food generation with power that doesn't need to be burned (and depleted) just makes more sense to me. Fossil Fuels are awesome, but sustainable sources of energy are awesomer!  

Your "Gut" Is Probably Wrong... No Really... by Steve Trash

The 800 lb. Gorilla can "trigger" the truth or half-truth or nothing at all

TRIGGERS. So, here's the thing.  Because I'm a professional illusionist, I think about perception a lot.  In fact, we illusionists USE your perception AGAINST you for entertainment.  Think about it.  It's WHY magic tricks work... because you mispercieve what's REALLY happening.  So recently I started thinking about the quality of thought that comes from your "gut". Your gut might be right or might be wrong... but remember... regardless of it's correctness with natural laws, mans' laws, spiritual laws... it ALWAYS tells you it's right. Surely your "gut" wouldn't lie to you? Well it can and it does. Your gut can be right or wrong but it "feels" right... and if you don't question it, you naturally THINK it's right. Seriously, it must be right because it "feels" right... right? Well not really... Your gut response is an expression of a lifetime of learning, experience, observation, and most of all... most of all... triggers. Triggers are your minds "shortcuts". Stimulus/Response. Everyone has tons of triggers. Everyone. Here's how it works... some stimulus in the environment happens; someone uses a bad word (triggered response), you see a person whom you should be afraid of (triggered response), the media has told you that person is good or evil (triggered response), someone nearby reaches for their cell phone and checks messages (triggered response). Triggers help you make decisions quickly that work for you... These are necessary in "clear and present danger" situations, but sometimes they don't work "for" you, because they don't represent any real "truth". They just take you to a place that "feels good". In our minds there is always a space between stimulus and response. Your triggered response to a stimulus may be filled with truth, justice, Jesus, the American way, or not. The point is to stop in the middle and ask... is it?