NEW YORK, Jan. 26, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Amid a winter that brings the chill of the unknown on freezing winds, many people in America are left wondering how to pay heating costs that have increased dramatically. In her new book, Getting Through the Wilderness: The Fuel Crisis, Global Warming, and the Hydrogen Frontier (now available through AuthorHouse), psychiatrist, teacher and freelance writer Mary Ann Segal, M.D., offers a solution.
"I urge citizens and local officials in many parts of the country to consider setting up heating shelters in schools, community centers, places of worship and other buildings ... to protect people from cold exposure in their homes," says Dr. Segal. "In the meantime, individuals may have much more control of their circumstances by sharing housing with one or two other families, all sharing one heating and electricity bill: 'house-pooling.'" Another alternative she suggests is taking in boarders.
Her theories are worthy of critical examination in light of this winter's heating emergency. Dr. Segal's thoroughly researched volume contains detailed information about the deepening oil crisis and explains in practical terms the reasons how and why alternative energy sources can and should be more widely utilized. She also urges vital conservation, especially on the road.
The use of hydrogen as a means of energy is covered in great detail, as is the employment of other alternative energy sources. In the end, Dr. Segal says, "None but hydrogen is (the) powerful and universally utilizable fuel that we need so desperately."
"Many are not escaping, or will not escape, the hardships of (high) fuel and electricity prices," she writes. "There are suggestions in the book on how to soften the hardship and move into the future more successfully."
A timely, thought-provoking read, Getting Through the Wilderness is an insightful commentary on one of the nation's most pressing emergency issues. Without appropriate attention it can become catastrophic, she warns.
Dr. Segal is a graduate of Swarthmore College, Columbia University Teachers College and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Threading through her careers as an educator and psychiatrist is a deep concern about the welfare of people. Her early realization that mothers and children in New York City and elsewhere in the nation face potentially life-threatening situations because of the developing fuel cost crisis prompted her to study the factors contributing to it, as well as the use of hydrogen as an energy source. She is now a member of the International Association for Hydrogen Energy and continues to lobby for the widespread use of hydrogen as a primary means of energy in America. More information is available at www.maryannsegalmd.com.
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