Change, but Don’t Forget the Environment.

In a New York Times op-ed Al Gore writes about the excitement Barack Obama’s election created for change. Gore, like many others, is excited for this change, but he has one reminder: don’t let the environment get overshadowed by the economy. Richard Nixon created Project Independence for America to meet its own energy needs without any foreign energy dependence. Gore sees no coincidence in this, since American oil production had peaked shortly before this. Now foreign oil has peaked, or is near peaking, and despite ideas like Project Independence, America’s reliance on foreign energy has only grown. Outlining five possible steps to fix this problem, Gore not only thinks it is possible to fix the energy crisis but to do so while fixing the economic crisis. Gore includes ideas such as investment incentives into energy alternatives, and caps on carbon dioxide. To some these challenges might seem daunting but, like Obama, Gore says yes we can, comparing this to the moon landing. John F. Kennedy said America would put a man on the moon and because of a growing enthusiasm America did. Will this similar enthusiasm for change Obama has created translate to the environment? Obama’s Kennedy-like inspiration is a good sign.
Link: “The Climate for Change”: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/opinion/09gore.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=Al%20Gore&st=cse

Photo by Christopher LaMarca at: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/11037536/forest_defenders_images_of_nonviolent_ecoactivism