---

Once again, crises in the Middle East have brought the cost of oil, along with talk about alternative energies, to the forefront.
It seems that the only time we pay attention to developing alternative energy is when an oil crisis hits our pocketbooks at the gas pump or spikes up our fuel bills. Otherwise we try to ignore the realities of our over-consumption and limited supply of fossil fuels, continuing our usual level of use and pretending the problem will go away.
But the problem is not going to go away - at least, not without deliberate action. Deep down, we all realize that some hard choices and lifestyle changes are going to be needed on all our parts, in order for that to happen.
The first time our country was shaken up by a fuel scare due to oil supply disruptions was in the early 1970s. Some of us remember that as being a shocking, unsettling time.
After things returned to normal, we closed our eyes and have continued to increase, rather than decrease, our foreign oil supplies. Now we have acquired a frightening, vulnerable dependence on a very politically unstable region of the globe.
In comparison, renewable energy investments are usually spent within the U.S., and frequently in the same state or even the same town. This means that citizen's energy dollars stay home to create jobs and build local economies, rather than being sent overseas.
The relationship between mankind and the earth is a fragile one. With the worldwide concerns of pollution, ozone layer depletion and global warming, it's time to take a serious look at our use of conventional fuels such as gasoline, diesel and coal. Harnessing the power of clean, alternative energy sources has become a necessity.
Some people find alternative options - such as electric cars -- discouraging because they are more expensive. We need to move beyond the start-up hurdles confronted by all innovations (remember the days when only a handful of people could afford computers?) to the time when mass production and consumer demand make alternative options affordable for us all.
Are we going to wake up and seriously invest in alternative energy to avoid being so vulnerable to oil production in the world and so destructive to our planet? Or are we going to just continue to talk about it?
If we don't pay attention to these issues and take environmental action off the back burner where it has been sitting for much too long, we cannot continue to expect our earth to survive.