What's going on . . .?

This picture was taken in Ecuador (I think) and posted at: http://www.amnestyusa.org/business/sharepower/chevron.html


I know that I am privileged to have been born in the United States of America, but sometimes I wonder what's going on. I'm sure the child in the picture, if still alive, will wonder the same thing one day. Is this craziness surrounding oil an expediency of survival? Sometimes I feel like I'm trapped in one of Kafka's stories. Where is science when it comes to energy alternatives? Why haven't we tapped that nuclear reactor we call the sun? It's good for about 5 billion more years.