For too long the pundits and so called “experts” have submitted to the obstructionist politicians who have cast environmental responsibility as the opponent of economic development. The two are not even inconsistent, much less antithetical, if one has the intelligence and willpower to think things through. Let us consider a fairly simple premise. If the economy can generate trillions of dollars based upon carbon emission producing technologies, is it not logical that at least billions of dollars could be generated on technologies that reduce or eliminate carbon dioxide emissions?
To be certain, the level of dependence that the world now has on carbon fuels and the existing supply lines for coal and petroleum suggest that such production and consumption will not go away in the near future. But much of the consumption that we are experiencing is a result of a lack of available alternatives. Let’s be clear, it is not a lack of viable alternatives, but rather a failure of the economy and vested corporate interests to make the viable alternatives available. Most of us are aware that automakers have owned and controlled fuel efficient technologies that they have buried and failed to make available in their products. It is also likely that the oil industry has patented technologies under control and hidden from the public that could reduce oil consumption. Power companies collectively have spent billions of dollars fighting regulations to retrofit coal fired plants with scrubbers and emissions cleaning technologies that have existed for decades.
There are signs of the air clearing a bit from this fog of polluted thinking. President Obama has signaled a desire and intention to seek a path toward more responsible environmental stewardship. In so doing, he has rejected the notion that such an approach would be too costly. Instead, he has posited that an aggressive investment in clean technologies provides an opportunity for economic growth and development. How refreshing to have a thinking President in the White House.
The United States, despite the declines in education and R&D over the past decade, still has the edge regarding the development of new technologies. This ingenuity, if supported by substantial investment, can develop and deliver technologies that are environmentally responsible and economically accessible. Young engineering students at MIT are developing solar energy systems that can be constructed from readily available used car parts. These inexpensive systems can be built and maintained in areas that are underdeveloped and provide clean energy sources for small factories that can employ local residents. Other bright young minds are developing water sanitation systems that are self supporting and can also be employed even in economically depressed areas.
The ramifications of these opportunities are staggering. Not only can such technologies help improve the environment, but they provide the opportunity for companies to manufacture, franchise and distribute these technologies throughout the world. On a global scale, the creation of jobs alone would be huge. The injection of new industries based upon clean and energy efficient technologies would boost the economies throughout the world. These are not environmental pipe dreams, but latent potential that we have simply failed to explore and exploit. The US has the chance to help the world recover economically from the economic disaster that it had a major role in creating, and in so doing reclaim a deserved position as leader of the free world.
The problem is that we have spent so much time looking down and staring at our feet that we have lost the ability to envision the sunrise. Moneyed interests have conditioned the people to limit their perspectives and to only focus on what serves the interests of those in financial control of the status quo. That control has widened the gap in socio-economic classes, destroyed economic opportunities and future prospects for the vast majority of middle and lower income families and continued the path of damage to the environment that Al Gore and environmental scientists have been warning us about for decades. It is time that we lifted our heads and elevated both our vision and our aspirations toward something better. We can revive the economy AND help to clean up the environmental damage at the same time. What better legacy to strive for and to leave to our grandchildren?
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