File this one under Eco-Phreak Irony

I present to you, ladies and gentlemen, one of the funniest conundrums for the Eco-mentalist of this land. We supposedly 'need' technology to 'save the planet' (whatever that means), but to get that product, something must be produced, and the only way to produce these items is to mine for the raw materials.

Well, it appears that we, the U.S. of A., have a rather substantial cache of these materials for making certain, and to ask the Greeniks, necessary objects of a supposed "Green Economy," to include stuff for the beloved cell phone (the biggest excuse given as "work" that I've ever seen), 'hybrid' motors for automobiles (a misnomer, to be sure), and wind turbines (that certainly do nothing to power anything except local, specialized consumers). This list goes on.

The hitches of the situation are many. Currently, China is doing the heavy lifting on sourcing and processing most of the rare earth elements that are being used on both consumer products, as well as heavy industry, for most of the world. And when the shortages, due to demand as much as anything, come around, what are we, the U.S., going to do about it? Probably go to court over the issue, and drag the legal manure around for at least a generation, whilst China catapults itself straight out ahead of us in every conceivable productive category.

Additionally, another dripping layer of irony is going to be this; ALL of the equipment that'll be used to get to these deposits (assuming, here, of course) will be made of steel(hint, it ain't green) and powered by barrels of crust-sourced, oily diesel fuel.

I hope the Enviro-Whackos cry over this.