Noah T. Winer of MoveOn.org emailed me and several million of his closest friends with a video of a speech that Al Gore gave yesterday.
Mr. Gore reminded me that the future of civilization is at stake. The economy in terrible shape. Our civilized jobs have been outsourced. Gasoline prices and electricity rates are through the roof. There is all kinds of pressure on banks and other financial institutions we depend on to keep score. The climate crisis is getting worse faster than we had anticipated. This has national security implications. Millions of displaced people around the world, climate refugees, will be moving this way and that looking for a better life. That’s a problem.
Some climatologists in Tel Aviv have evidence that for every one degree increase in temperature, lightning strikes go up 10%. Lightning caused the crisis in western wildfires this summer, lightning and the tinder dry conditions that go along with increased heat.
Mr. Gore says, and I agree, that a dangerous over-reliance on carbon based fuel is at the center of economic, environmental, national security crises that we face today. The answer, he says, is to end our reliance on carbon based fuels. I can’t argue with that. Mr. Gore is challenging us, Democrats and Plutocrats alike, to convert all our electricity to renewable non-carbon based sources by 2024. The goal, he says, is achievable, affordable, and transformative.
I’m skeptical and here’s why. Mr. Gore says, “The answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels.” Mr. Peabody is committed to strip mining the planet. Which of these men has a stronger commitment? Who is the more influential? Which side will Dick Cheney come down on?
When President Kennedy set our national sights on the moon, we rose to the challenge. But landing on the moon involved building huge rockets and advancing technology that had practical wartime applications. Will saving the planet’s fresh water inspire the Texas business community? How many ragheads can we kill by learning to save the polar bear? I’m afraid the answer is none, so where is the practical wartime application in that?
The emerging good news for the corporateers involves the opportunity to build scores of nuclear plants. Only dams and freeways use more cement than nuclear plants, and nobody sells more cement than the mob, and the mob killed Kennedy, but they didn’t kill the space program if you get my drift.
I’m skeptical that environmentalism will have the traction of huge three stage rockets and space satellites. So what is going to motivate us to do the right things? I’m guessing we’ll have to go nuclear.
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