Solving Global Warming Requires Progress Not Perfection
It’s rare that we see legislation before Congress that can lead to wholesale change. That, if passed, can provide the initial steps toward solutions that could end up solving so many issues. In this case, energy independence, the environment and global climate change, everyday pocketbook issues, and even national security.
The current energy bill before Congress is trying to do just that.
It has two provisions in it that must pass. There’s more info at www.energybill2007.us. We’ve got a petition there I hope you sign and pass on to others.
One calls for an increase in CAFE standards (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) – in layman’s terms, the average amount of miles per gallon of gas an entire fleet of cars gets – to 35 mpg by the year 2020. This is vital we’re using a fossil-fuel based source that is increasingly expensive, causes pollution, and is also from areas such as the Persian Gulf. Very unstable. Improving CAFE standards to 35 mpg – a full 13 years from now (which isn’t overnight) will give us better gas mileage, thus giving us more bang for the buck. We’ll keep more money in our wallets, drive cleaner cars, and thus become less reliant on pollution causing oil.
The second is a huge step in the right direction…and it creates jobs!! One of the things I hear many people say is that we need to become less reliant on oil. Period. For all of the reasons I’ve just mentioned and the fact that, well, we just don’t know when it may run out. This new bill has a provision that calls for the US to become actually less oil dependent. That’s because the bill states that 15% of our energy that we receive in 2020 should be renewable energy sources (RES).
If we are going to look to get off oil, this makes sense and it seems somewhat insane to oppose it. Unfortunately, some are. But we’d seen an increase in clean wind and solar energy investments. And that means jobs. Jobs right here. Not outsourced. And yes, we’d rely less on oil. Something many have been saying for years.
Again, check out the site http://www.energybill2007.us. It’s important to see this passed!
JR, isn’t that just more Mediocracy. We have affordable cars and technology surpasing those CAFE standards, now. What we need is a domestic energy Manhattan Project. Concommitantly, we also require a change in cultural expectations regarding personal transportation. We’ve let the oil commpanies, car makers, and federal governement drive us into six lane daily grid lock. We’ve allowed ourselves to become routinely dependent on private vehicle transport while they have historically sidetracked our urban and suburban transit system planning and deployment. I guess the only thing thats going to really change our energy policy and consumption habits is $10/gal. gasoline. Wait until you see your winter heating bill this year. Oil $92/bl. and climbing?
Ever look down into a busy Manhattan avenue at the height of the business day? It’s a sea of yellow cabs. One driver, one passenger, and this mayor seeks an entry fee into midtown from private motorists instead of getting those huge Fords off the streets to make way for hybrids or better.
The high end residents likely never see the subways and buses. There are limosines and taxicabs. The whole thing is a sad joke!
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