Life On The Line: The Sustainable Energy Future
Life On The Line: The Sustainable Energy Future
With an unrivaled military force and substantial economic clout wielded by its corporations, the U.S. is quite possibly the most powerful and influential country in the world. As such, it has some serious choices to make going forward; indeed, it is the most significant crossroads Americans have faced since global fascism threatened the world in the early 1940s.
Will the U.S. boldly lead the world toward sustainable energy while providing new green careers that will enable its working middle class to revive itself, or will it retreat, becoming a Third-World banana republic ruled by a hyper-wealthy aristocracy with a vast population of the poor, choking on oil and coal fumes and enslaved by the Royal House of Saud?
There are many loud voices, claiming to be "conservative" and "loyal patriots" that are in fact corporatists who are loyal only to money, even when that money is Chinese yuans or Saudi riyals, and who dismiss the advantages of solar power. They insist there is no viable alternative to oil and coal, that renewable energy is a pipe dream, and would be all-too-happy to see those green careers outsourced to China and India.
While the current administration could certainly be more aggressive in moving toward green technologies and sustainable energy, the fact is that some substantial progress has been made under President Obama over the past eighteen months. And provided that he has a Congress willing to work with him and a public that is willing to apply pressure, much more progress in renewable energy technology will be made.
On the other hand, if the opposition party is returned to power, all government support for progress in this area is likely to come grinding to a halt, and the U.S. will continue to be a "petro-junkie."
It is true that solar technology is only part of a comprehensive sustainable energy program that will ultimately include wind, geothermal and biofuels from sources such as algae, switchgrass and hemp. However, the importance of this type of renewable energy, both to the planet and the U.S. economy, cannot be overstated.
First of all, "grid parity" the point at which the cost of solar generated electricity will be competitive with that generated by coal and oil will most likely be achieved by 2020, if not sooner. Over the next several decades, as these facilities, many of which will be installed on individual homes and buildings, pay for themselves, the cost of solar electricity will drop to zero. At this point the possibilities this free and clean energy will present to our grandchildren and great-grandchildren are wondrous to consider.
In the immediate future however, this technology means green careers. Even those who are bitterly opposed to the current government cannot help but notice that there is almost nothing made in the U.S. anymore. Most of this situation can be laid at the feet of thirty years of Republican, "trickle-down" economic policy that has allowed corporations to close down factories and ship decent-paying, middle-class jobs to countries such as China and India, where people work, either by choice or by force, for pennies an hour.
Be sure to consider these sustainable energy issues when you vote this November and every election cycle to come.
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