re: I'm feeling guilty over this...

No need to feel guilty.

Do something to change it.

When you think you need to get into your big gas guzzling truck, ask one of your neighbors or friends if there's something you can pick up for them while you are out. Since you're already on the road, it'll reduce their gas/oil consumption.

Or if you put gas into your lawn mower, take the clippings and start a compost bin in your back yard. So instead of throwing away all organic stuff, like orange peels or bread that you don't eat, you can make compost. Less trash you are throwing away, less for the trash companies to haul, reducing their gas consumption.

Little steps, big results.

Biodiesel from legitimate food sources is insane. Think about it.

There are starving people in the world and you are literally burning your food because you can. Want to talk about messed up?Also, an agricultural disaster could cause a major shortage of fuel.

Biodiesel from baggas (sp?) or wood based byproducts is much less insane, but probably can't produce the amounts needed to make a country energy independent.

The real solution is to keep funding research to revolutionize the automobile industry and end the use of the internal combustion engine.

How many vehicles are there in Brazil per acre of land available to grow sugar cane. Probably quite a few less than in the US.

this problem was created by corporate America and politics. The desire for dividends and lobbying allowed the oil companies to drill without back up systems in place that are required in every country in the world that has offshore drilling except us. don't feel guilty about using oil and gas. i would never want to stop offshore drilling because then we become more dependent on foreign oil and you can bet they will us it to get to us. but yes we do need to get to where we are less dependent and find other sources of energy.

Just some thoughts on this thread (to no one in particular)
Brazil-much of the rain forest was taken through govt incentives to increase tax revenue on 'wasted land' that wasn't bringing in enough taxes...for the govt. Rather than attempt restoration, some of this land is now used towards biofuels. The 'stop the bleeding' effect seen in the gulf of Mexico is a lot like the rain forest, but in faster motion.....and in both cases you don't SEE the species disappearing due to the clouds (one of smoke, the other oil).
--A lot of the current oil disaster fault is HUMAN error--just like in airline crashes, just like in car wrecks, just like in 3 Mile Island, etc. ...what, no failsafes?
....Nothing is free. You have to do the real work and get the results. You have to hold people accountable for their actions. You can't 'cheat' and keep trimming costs with an oil rig, with a nuke, with driver's ed.
Nuclear- great idea, and I'm mostly pro nuke. But if we have 10,000 nuke plants, something will inevitably go VERY wrong....it's just math. As long as we keep our nuclear expertise and don't cut costs, we will stay mostly safe.
--We too can be energy independent, but wind and solar ain't gonna get us there. Just like with food, we waste more than we actually need right now...and the only way to stop that is to let the price go up and bleed out the unneeded things in our lives....not with stupid speculation markets, but with demand over time.
Conservation? The C word? Nobody wants to talk about that.
--SUV's, etc. It's not economically viable for some of the owners to buy a better MPG car, so why buy it? My Expedition has little maintenance compared to a new BMW. And I'm not trying to impress anyone while I commute, so I keep my 8 year old car. If gas gets too expensive, I may even sell my twin engine Sea Ray that gets 2 MPG, but then I'd lose my second home tax writeoff, and I'd have no excuse to irritate the Vol navy every 5 years or so (or host Bama-LSU beerfests).
Besides, I've used my boat on bird counts, and other nature related activities, so I may be breaking even.
Lawns-I rarely cut mine....just enough to shut the neighbors up. I'm 'too hippy(?)' to overly care about how long my grass is and what color, but can identify most species in my lawn--CAN YOU? If I grow Morefield's leather flower in my yard rather than grass, is that a good thing?