Proposed Pipeline Under and Through the United States from Canada to Gulf Coast Refineries for Export to Foreign Destinations

I was watching a video of the anti-Keystone XL Pipeline protest posted by SanDiego350.org:
http://www.eyepaintart.blogspot.com/2014/04/stop-kxl-no-pipeline.html.

I'm going to rant a bit today about the "demand" for petroleum products, in spite of their obsolescence...

I understand that there are and will continue to be internal combustion engines as part of our lives.  However, what I cannot fathom is why people will continue to buy this technology, since it is already reaching the end of its useful lifespan.

I understand:  because I live in the United States, which has not seen a war on its own land since the turn of the twentieth century (Okay, WWII saw some Japanese attacks on US territories).  That being the case, this country has never needed to re-lay its rails (as Germany and Japan have), or rebuild much of its infrastructure, as much of Europe has.  That is why this country is so far behind the curve on adopting new technologies:  what we've already had was always good enough, and we were never forced to replace them.

The time has come (actually, the time had been ripe for a long, long time, and is nearing the rotting stage) for the United States to go through the reconstruction of all major infrastructure, including bridges, tunnels, canals, subways, sewer systems, etc.  This would create immediate jobs for the construction industry, which has been aching for work since the economic downturn of the prior presidential administration, and provide a baseline for future work, as everything will be documented (or at least it ought to be) for future repairs (and for those of you who want to argue that some systems should be good enough to never require repair, I'll tell you that you are full of it, because all artificially created systems break down over time.  All of them.  It's not a matter of if, but when.

We could finally install a high speed rail system (aka "bullet trains"), that could compete with airlines for inter-city travelers.  Giving people a viable alternative to flying would be a good thing.  I know that I'd prefer to sit on a train, book in hand, watching the landscape race by rather than go through airport security any day of the week.  I'd rather complete some work while a train shuttles me along, rather than be too uncomfortable, cramped into a seat on a flying can, to get anything done.

It's not that I have anything against airplanes:  they have their purpose.  However, for anything but the longest distances (or where bodies of water prevent railroad crossings), I believe that electric trains should be implemented and utilized.  The electricity should be produced using renewables like sunlight, ocean waves, and wind (or, more likely, a combination of some or all of them), so that again, we're not investing in that anachronistic technology called fossil fuels.  And that's more jobs for the construction industry.  Granted, all of these projects would produce term, or temporary, jobs, but it's something.  The construction industry needs to retool itself into projects involving renovation, updating, and very little new construction.  As an architect, I understand the shock, but I believe this is the right way to go.

So, back to the Pipeline(s).  There is really no need for it (them).  People need to learn to become more efficient, to use the newer existing technologies to make the most of what energy can be produced using renewable methods (like those stated above).  The cheapest energy we save is that which we never use, as I've heard said many, many times.

But too many people not only refuse to learn, they actively campaign against it.  "The Masses" seem to enjoy the status quo.  Even if they don't necessarily enjoy it, it's familiar, and that makes it less scary.  The devil you know being less scary, right?  But the status quo, the devil we do know, is going to end our species (or at least the society we've built) that much sooner.  I just hate to think about how much we'll be destroying this planet before we're finally winked out of existence.  The Earth, or Gaia, as some like to call it, can be happy, then, if it feels anything at all, to finally be free of the infestation that is the human species and the fever (climate change) it induced.