Letter From the Editor
Last week, former Vice President Al Gore proposed a challenge to our nation that we produce 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and clean carbon-free sources within 10 years. Gore said, “Scientists with access to data from Navy submarines traversing underneath the North polar ice cap have warned that there is now a 75 percent chance that within five years the entire ice cap will completely disappear during the summer months.”
He added that “our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels is at the core of all three of [our nation’s] challenges—the economic, environmental and national security crises.” He said that we need a “bold new strategy” to “re-power America.”
Gore called for using renewables such as solar, wind and geothermal power to meet our energy needs. I believe that Gore is leading us in the right direction. Reliance on non-renewable sources such as oil and coal will only continue to increase the price of energy. Transitioning to renewable sources of energy will, in the long run, stabilize prices and provide a clean source of energy that will decrease the threat of climate change and foster a sustainable future for our planet.
We already know that solar energy alone could provide our nation’s energy needs, but, according to Gore, the lack of a “unified national grid that is sufficiently advanced to link the areas where the sun shines and the wind blows to the cities in the East and West that need the electricity” is one major hurdle standing in our way.
Improving our commitment to efficiency and conservation, rebuilding the unified national grid infrastructure, investing in the renewable energy industry and switching to plug-in electric vehicles will help to meet our energy consumption needs and greatly increase the health of our planet and its inhabitants. But, as Gore explained, we need to “speed up this transition by insisting that the price of carbon-based energy include the costs of the environmental damage it causes.”
It will take the efforts of everyone to reach the goal of producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy in the next 10 years. Do your part, become energy efficient and curtail your energy use, and encourage your elected officials to become leaders in promoting a renewable energy future for our nation.
Please take the time to visit www.wecansolveit.org and watch the less than six minute video of Al Gore’s bold challenge to all Americans.
August/September 2008 Contents