The state of California produces the lion’s share of agriculture for the nation.  That has always been a positive thing for the country and for the state.  With the state of the economy and the issue of the fuel crisis as overwhelming as it has become, the fact that California is in the agricultural situation that it is can be more of a negative than the positive it used to be. 

The reason: fuel.  Agriculture alone uses a lot of fuel that, on the surface, we don’t think about, and, often, neither do politicians or farmers.  For instance, in addition to some of the fossil fuels that are used in agriculture – aside from those used in trucking and transporting products to market and aside from equipment used on the land itself – there are other, more subtle uses.

Asphalt for roads uses fuel.  Plastic used in many types of containers use fuel.  Pesticides and other fertilizers use fuel.  When you produce as much agriculture as the state of California does, these things add up to a lot of fuel.

California is in a good situation on one hand because they have 206 oil fields.  On the other hand, California uses about 20 billion gallons of fuel just to be able to drive.  This is a lot of fuel. 

Even though the nation and most states do not have a comprehensive energy plan or energy conservation plan, the need is there.  Politicians – especially the two presidential candidates – are talking about this issue on a daily basis.  CNN and MSNBC along with all the other news channels have program after program about what to do about this crisis.

Some cities in California are not just waiting around for the federal or state government to come up with a plan.  Cities such as Oakland and San Francisco are working on alternative energy in areas such as their mass transit.  Hopefully other cities and counties across the country will follow suit.

The fuel crisis is a problem throughout the world, not just in California, however, since California produces nearly half the fruits and vegetables in the United States, it is critical for them to be able to be sure that they can continue to do so.

But California is not alone.  The country is in need of alternatives, and we are hearing from people like Richard Branson and T. Boone Pickens, among others, with ideas that could help get the fuel crisis under control in the short term and the long run.  California is in a tough situation, and their situation will effect the country and essentially, the world.  It is a good thing that they are taking the lead and taking responsibility to start looking at conservation and alternatives on their own without waiting for the problem to get any worse or the government to help.

Tags: alternative energy, Alternative fuel, California, fuel conservation, fuel crisis

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 at 6:35 pm and is filed under Gas Prices. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.