A good friend recently returned from a region of Southern California where he used to live about 40 years ago. It was his first trip back to that area since his 1960 exodus.

To say that things had changed a bit would be an understatement. He traveled from place to place on a seven-lane speedway…uh freeway…dodging cars traveling 80 miles an hour or better. Once pristine ocean views were now blocked by two and three-story condominiums.

And one population trend had not escaped his notice. Elderly people were fleeing the area in droves.

I’m sure changing cultures and demographics had something to do with that. High living costs probably are another contributing factor. It’s getting increasingly hard to live on a fixed income.

There’s not much any of us can do about million dollar real estate costs. But in recent months, we’ve seen the price of gasoline…and now, natural gas…go right through the roof. That hurts all of us…but especially senior citizens.

About the best the talking heads on the cable networks can suggest is turning down our thermostats this winter. Yeah…right. Perhaps if you live in sunny Southern California, you can get away with that.

But with a war pending in the Middle East and the risk of a new oil crisis, it’s not too early to consider developing alternative energy sources.

One sure way to keep gasoline pumping and the freeway traffic flowing is expanding our reliance on nuclear energy. It’s the safe, affordable way to preserve our limited supply of non-renewable fuel sources. The way things are changing in this world, we may soon have no choice but greater reliance on nuclear power.

As my friend discovered, you can’t turn back the clock…but with a little help from the atom, at least we might be able to pay the electric bill.

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