BLOG

Why Not?

-- Pete -- 08/20/2008

I had the privilege of witnessing Al Gore call for this country to get all of its energy from renewable resources in ten-years time. I know that these things can be complicated and yes expensive but still it’s the right thing to do and I ask why not? 

 To explain the scope of what is being asked in moving to a clean economy people use past efforts like the Manhattan Project that brought us the Atomic Bomb, the Apollo Program that put an American on the moon or the D-Day invasion which was a good day for the Allies and a bad day for Nazi Germany.

All of these events were almost impossible but arguably necessary efforts.  Of these three, my favorite for purposes of explaining the global warming crises, is the Apollo program. It fits because it took an idealism and belief in ourselves collectively to achieve something that no one could prove was possible until it happened. The Manhattan and D-day invasion were secret projects with a relative few in the know. The first and very important step in the Apollo Project was President Kennedy challenging the nation to attempt something way out there, literally. Where do we find taht leadership today? How do we find it in ourselves to respond to true leadership? I think there exists a feeling of well, that was the 1960's and things are differnt today. Maybe they are, but why?

So if you want to fight global warming you have to believe that even if we don’t know exactly how we are going to get from here to there and what challenges we will face, we can solve this. That kind of optimism is contagious in any generation.