And if we divert too much water from our rivers for power generation, we use supplies needed for migrating salmon and agricultural irrigation.
If we divert our attention to Iraq now, we will diminish our ability to deter new rounds of violence against America -- and we may create new threats rather than containing immediate ones.
"There is no evidence to support the move to seven-day services, there is no evidence of what is going to happen if we divert our resources away from the week to weekends.
In the House, Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, the minority leader, said "we will continue to see if we can divert some of this money" from missile defense to antiterrorism activities.
"If we can divert the energy from the excited melanin before it gets transferred, we might be able to intervene," Brash says.
"But if we can divert others and keep them out of the system to stop them ending up in it for a long, long time, that's a better direction of travel".
If we can divert most or some significant fraction of this by composting, we would increase the longevity of our existing landfills and save land for other purposes (like growing food).
"It's hard to address big issues," Mr. Obama told me, "if we're easily diverted or distracted by racial antagonism".
"As a pilot, you'll say: 'Right, we've got enough fuel to get from A to B, and if B is closed, we'll divert to C. We've also got contingency fuel, and then a level of fuel at the end where you say: We'll never land with less than that.' And that was fine in the old days, and diverting from B to C was no problem because C was a quiet little place with no aeroplanes.
But the good news is that, if we don't get diverted by political hoaxes like trying to squeeze a small amount of oil out of our coasts and instead invest in renewable energy and efficiency, we will soon have an energy system that is clean, long-lasting, independent of foreign oil, and will save the planet for our grandchildren.
