Update May 7: In a high stakes move, Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) announced they will introduce the Energy Bill next week. They should use the momentum of the oil spill to remove oil drilling from the bill, but it's still in. The package includes generous revenue shares for coastal states that allow it.
By Rona Fried, Ph.D.
As someone that's been involved in
green business for decades, I've heard all the arguments over the years for continuing along the fossil fuel path of least resistance.
Back in the 1970s, after the oil embargo, President Carter put the US on a path toward energy efficiency and renewable energy, but that was quickly disassembled as soon as President Reagan took office. One of the first things Reagan did was remove the solar panels on the White House.
The theme during the President Bush Senior years was Economy VS. Environment - he insisted we could have one or the other, but not both. We made some limited progress while President Clinton was in office with Al Gore by his side, but even then Congress wouldn't sign the Kyoto Protocol.
Then came President GW Bush - it was during his term that climate science became indisputable; in one of his State of the Union addresses he forced himself to utter the words, "The US is addicted to oil" Still, he removed all the regulations he could - one reason we're seeing the devastating oil spill in the Gulf.
We remain addicted to oil, and like all addictions, we have the choice of allowing it to ruin our "body ecosystem" or get off the addiction.
What would be our situation today if we had invested in a clean energy economy since the 1970s? 40 years have passed with much talk and very little action ... except on-going support for fossil fuels.
Why do we continue to put our economy and environment at risk - which our current President understands work hand in glove?
All the hoopla about "Drill, Baby, Drill", ignores some crucial facts. First, even if we drilled everywhere possible offshore, that oil would supply a mere 2% of US demand. Second, drilling for homegrown oil doesn't increase our energy independence because the oil is sold on the world markets, not just to the US. Third, oil drilling increases US greenhouse gas emissions, which we can no longer afford to do.
While the path of least resistance continues to be climate change denial, it's easy to observe the impacts. When will we connect the dots? Nashville, Tennessee is under water - they received a half year's rain in just two days this week! In Georgia, after an unusually dry spring, they were pounded with six inches of rain in several hours. The Washington DC area was pummeled by unprecedented amounts of snow this winter and the Midwest saw historic floods. The permafrost in Alaska is melting and entire forests are falling into the water as methane escapes into the atmosphere. Wildfires in the West now occur year-round, glaciers melting worldwide, invasive insects destroying millions of acres of forests, what more evidence does it take?
At some point, denial must give way to survival instincts. The only sure-fire way to prevent tragedies like the BP Deepwater Disaster is to re-enact the offshore drilling moratorium and to replace dirty dangerous fossil fuels with clean energy.
