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gangrene
gan·grene (gāng’grēn’, gāng-grēn’)
n. Death and decay of body tissue, often occurring in a limb, caused by insufficient blood supply and usually following injury or disease.
tr. & intr.v. gan·grened, gan·gren·ing, gan·grenes
To affect or become affected with gangrene.

[Medieval Latin cancrēna, from Latin gangraena, gangrēna, from Greek gangraina.]
gan’gre·nous (gāng’grə-nəs) adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

gangrene
gan·grene (gāng’grēn’, gāng-grēn’)
n. Death and decay of human life, often occurring in a political economy, caused by insufficient energy supply and usually following injury to fossil fuel producers or Al Gore’s Disease.
tr. & intr.v. gan·grened, gan·gren·ing, gan·grenes
To affect or become affected with gangrene.

[Medieval Latin cancrēna, from Latin gangraena, gangrēna, from Greek gangraina.]
gan’gre·nous (gāng’grə-nəs) adj.
The J. Neil Schulman® Dictionary of the English Language, First Edition

Look, it’s easy to view the above as a bit of political satire, but it’s actually the way new usages enter a language.

“Gangrene” as a political tag is a perfect extension of the concept of a diseased limb rotting from lack of oxygen to an economy rotting from lack of energy.

“Gangrene” also starts with the word “gang,” which accurately identifies the leadership of the Gangrene movement as gangsters.

I first tried to move away from the concept of “green” entirely, when a half year ago I started a Facebook Group called The Golden Economy.

But trying to change the language of a debate is an uphill battle so instead of trying to challenge everything associated with the green political movement I’ve decided to take on the slightly more modest task of distinguishing between life-affirming “green” pursuits and life-strangling “gangrene” policies.

So let’s start contrasting Green versus Gangrene.

Green:

Scientists researching climate changes.

Gangrene:

Scientists lying about climate changes.

Green:

Minimizing air pollution by charging back the costs to those who release harmful chemicals and particulate matter into the atmosphere, particularly when doing so causes breathing hazards.

Gangrene:

Capping the release of so-called greenhouse gasses including carbon dioxide and methane — natural products of both animal and plant life — on the scientifically dubious grounds that doing so will cause global warming and an environmental crisis. Carbon dioxide and methane together comprise only a small percent of “greenhouse” gas, with simple water vapor accounting for ninety-five percent.

Green:

Opposing the dumping of non-biodegradable trash and waste into the ocean, where ocean currents form a Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Gangrene:

Attacking petroleum companies for accidental tanker spills of crude oil, on the grounds that it destroys fish and wildlife. No evidence exists that such spills permanently decrease populations of fish or wildlife and crude oil, being a fertilizer, decays and feeds many species of plant life, eventually producing extra food supplies for many species of sea creatures and ocean-habitat birds as well.

Green:

Researching, inventing, and marketing additional sources of renewable energy: solar power, wind power, geothermal power, agricultural fuels.

Gangrene:

Restricting, regulating, taxing, and burdening with bureaucratic barriers to market entry fossil-fuel energy that can lower energy costs and reduce the necessity of purchasing oil from cocksuckers who hate our guts. Gangrene organizations such as the Sierra Club file numerous lawsuits any time someone tries to start up a new domestic plant to refine oil or coal so it can be brought to market, and the federal government — which controls vast swaths of shale and coal rich land — refuses to allow exploitation of the natural resources which could make the United States entirely energy independent. Instead, pipe-dreams of solar, wind, and geothermal energy — that have not yet matured enough to be offered to consumers like me — are offered as solutions to energy poverty while crippling production of already available fossil-fuel energy.

Green:

Driving an electric or hybrid car when it’s convenient for local commuting, shopping, and visiting.

Gangrene:

Penalizing, taxing, and raising the costs of the production and operation of gasoline-powered automobiles and light trucks which are actually more efficient for long-distance driving — and don’t have the hugely energy-intensive recycling costs of electric and hybrid auto batteries — than electric and hybrids. Also, all-electric vehicles are impractical for family vacations, because of limited driving range per charge with no commercial infrastructure for quick replacement of batteries and hours-long battery recharging times.

Green:

Installing LED units when low-light levels are all that’s needed to see.

Gangrene:

Forcing people to switch from proven safe incandescent light bulbs to toxic-chemical-containing fluorescent bulbs for a slightly more efficient light output.

Green:

Coming up with an affordable, off-the-shelf, plug-and-play Home Energy Plant — wind, solar, or a combo unit — that I can buy at Walmart, and have a technician set up in my yard and plug into my electric meter. Right now all wind and solar solutions cost more than I’d pay in electricity — even at the current inflated prices — for ten years, and I can’t afford to switch over.

Gangrene:

I’m paying what Dennis Miller has called “hotel minibar prices” to buy electric power for my all-electric house in the high desert — about $3600 a year in electric bills for a three-bedroom house. The United States has supplies of shale, natural gas, and coal which can be converted into oil, which could reduce my home electric bill and the costs of running my car to a fraction of its current costs. The government’s burdens on fossil-fuel energy production being added to the grid is keeping the price high and a $300 a month electric bill is a major burden.

Green:

Reading my free books on the web:

Alongside Night

Stopping Power: Why 70 Million Americans Own Guns

Book Publishing in the 21st Century

Gangrene:

Reading Al Gore’s new book Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis in paperback.


Winner of the Special Jury Prize for Libertarian Ideals from the 2011 Anthem Film Festival! My comic thriller Lady Magdalene’s — a movie I wrote, produced, directed, and acted in it — is now available free on the web linked from the official movie website. If you like the way I think, I think you’ll like this movie. Check it out!

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