I admire Al Gore. For years he has been talking about the damage we are doing to our environment, irrefutable evidence of global warming, and the need to take action now. Many people dismiss his thoughts and ideas but I guarantee we will look back years from now and realize that Al Gore was right. In the meantime, we should do something about it.
Last week, Al Gore issued a challenge to our nation to produce every kilowatt of electricity through wind, sun and other earth-friendly energy sources within 10 years. A lofty goal indeed but no different than when John F. Kennedy set his sights on putting a man on the moon before the end of the 60’s.
Before I get into that, let’s talk about a very real and current example of pollution problems – Beijing and the upcoming Olympic games.
China has been notoriously bad with regulations of any kind on pollutants and with the upcoming world stage that the Olympics will be on, they are trying to do something about it – something that I hope they can sustain well past the Olympic games.
In a drastic plan to reduce pollution, they are implementing a massive shutdown where half of their over 3 million vehicles will be taken off the roads and many polluting factories will be closed. Any chemical plants, factories or power stations left open will have to cut emissions by 30% and any dust-spewing construction in the capital will be halted. Given that a study found that China is home to 16 of the 20 worst cities for air quality, and that three-fourths of the water flowing through urban areas is unsuitable for drinking or fishing, I pray that the Chinese government takes these steps to heart and keeps the emission cutting measures in place indefinitely. Not only that, I hope they take these drastic measures as the first step in cleaning up their entire country of pollutants. Environmental issues like this are a global problem that we all have to acknowledge and address.
Back to Al Gore’s challenge, both presidential candidates this year are way ahead of most politicians in the fight for global climate change. Something I am extremely pleased and encouraged to hear.
While Al Gore wants to wean the nation entirely off of fossil fuels, that is where he and I differ on the overall issue. I am in agreement with much of what Al Gore wants to do but rather than wean ourselves off of fossil fuels, I believe the goal should be to wean ourselves off of foreign dependence on fossil fuels (as I recently wrote about) and focus on fossil fuels at home and how to cleanly and safely obtain, distribute, and consume them.
As Al Gore is careful to point out, this is an issue that will need a substantial investment, mostly in the areas of technologies that reduce energy waste and link existing energy grids. It is also an issue that I feel needs the commitment of government, businesses and individual citizens to be successful. It is also something that needs immediate attention!
The government issue is an interesting one as the government not only needs to act towards this goal here in America but needs to work with our global environment to get other countries to follow suit.
Fast growing countries like India and China are increasing their demand on oil resources which is going to continue to cause prices to rise, another reason why we need to start producing our own oil (which we are fully capable of doing). Not only does that help solve our dependence on foreign sources (I’d call it more being at the mercy of oil-producing regimes) but it further helps our economy if we decide to start exporting some of that black gold.
Nonetheless, with that demand growing in countries like China, India and elsewhere, now is the time to work with these countries and others on cleaner energy sources and less energy waste for a safer Earth climate for all. These issues will be addressed at some point in our future, let’s hope it doesn’t wait to the point of irreversible harm. Our future, and that of our children depend on the choices and the decisions we make today.
Thank you Al Gore for your continued efforts in raising awareness in this area.
