Derrick Jackson, writing in today's Boston Globe:...Since the Carter era, cars grew into SUVs, houses grew to twice the size of those in most of Europe, and our bellies ballooned into an obesity crisis. At 5 percent of the world’s population, we consume a quarter of its energy.
Obama has the intellect to be the first president since Carter to say that our balloon will burst.
It is chilling to think where we would be today if we stuck to Carter’s goal of the “most massive peacetime commitment of funds and resources in our nation’s history’’ for alternative energy. He wanted the nation’s utility companies to slash their use of oil by 50 percent within the decade and he wanted billions for mass transit.
“I’m asking you, for your good and for your nation’s security, to take no unnecessary trips, to use car-pools or public transportation whenever you can, to park your car one extra day per week, to obey the speed limit and to set your thermostats to save fuel,’’ Carter said. “Every act of energy conservation like this is more than just common sense. I tell you it is an act of patriotism . . . the solution of our energy crisis can also help us to conquer the crisis of the spirit in our country. It can rekindle our sense of unity . . . give our nation and all of us individually a new sense of purpose.’’
In 1979, that was called malaise. Today, we mine and drill the planet to the point of malevolence to satisfy our level of consumption. Carter became a caricature of conservation in a cardigan, but
Obama has the political capital to make energy conservation cool. This latest spill gives Obama the opportunity to ask Americans in the most personal of ways if they want a permanent crisis of confidence, as prisoners of oil.
Link:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/05/08/hungry_little_energy_devils/
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