Solutions to Everything, Pt. 1

People complain. Constantly. It's been fashionable for a long time to bitch and moan about everything. Call it snark, irony, sarcasm, or cynicism, but the snotty tone of voice and the snide remark have become the default position in our discourse.

However, we here at the Trends, Lifestyles and Yogurt desk are willing to bet that's going to change. What with the very good chance that the U.S. is going to elect its first African-American President, we all might start acting like we've got a reason to get out of bed in the morning again. Because really, after all that talk about hope and change, aren't you going to feel a little petty complaining about the guy at Starbucks forgetting the extra foam on your decaf venti latte? 

In that spirit, we're going to start offering solutions. To everything. There are a lot of ideas out there -- some good, some bad, some just ludicrous -- but we're not going to judge. We're just going to throw them out there, and see what sticks to the wall. We're brainstorming here, people.

First up: the energy crisis. Why start small?

There are a lot of people who think we're headed into a Mad Max future because pretty soon, we're going to run out of oil.

One possible solution: frozen natural gas. Also known as methane hydrate, there are huge deposits of this substance in fields just below the sea floor -- more than all the fossil fuel deposits on earth combined. With any luck, we'll learn to tap this in time to make the transition to solar power easier -- or we'll just use it all up, the way we did oil.

Sorry, a little cynicism slipped in there at the end. I'm not going cold turkey.