What do you want to say to President-Elect Obama?
Mr. Obama has only a few short months to prepare for inauguration and all the challenges that come with it, of which environmental problems are only one piece. In the past, he has called for emissions reductions 80% by 2050, a cap-and-trade market for carbon emissions, higher efficiency standards, investments in renewable energy, and a smarter electricity grid.
As he puts together his staff and his policies, what would you like to see? What are your priorities for the first 100 days? The first year? A possible second term? Do you agree with Mr. Obama when he says that this is a time for sacrifice and service? This post is an open thread for you to express your thoughts, concerns, demands, and yes, hopes.
Here are a few links on Obama's declared goals for our "planet in peril" for you to browse:
The Obama Energy Speech, Annotated: DotEarth
Barack Obama's environmental platform and record: Grist
Obama Hits Hard on Efficiency Themes in Debate: Green Inc.
And some food for thought: To the Next US President, 100 Words for 100 Days
Change is in the air, and our unsustainable economic system - dependent on perpetual growth in consumption - is on its knees. This is a perfect opportunity to build a new economic system. However, this will require President-Elect Barack Obama to be more courageous than he could afford to be while courting the votes of the masses.
I would encourage him to begin telling the complete truth about what we must do (and can do if we're bold) to avoid climate change disaster and complete ecological collapse. We cannot grow our way out of any of the crises we face. Let's hope the words economic growth don't cross his lips again. It's time for a new, sustainable economy.
Dave Gardner
Producer/Director
Hooked on Growth: Our Misguided Quest for Prosperity
www.growthbusters.com
Posted by: Growthbuster | November 05, 2008 at 11:14 AM
Honestly, I would like a move back away from offshore drilling and North Slope drilling. A firmer push towards clean energy and clean energy policy. I want to see legislation on the table in 100 days that will benefit these industries.
I want to see a push towards biofuels that are not only made from corn. Anaerobic digestion plants, which use bacteria to convert biodegradable waste into methane and biogas, should be heavily considered. Not only do they provide a renewable source of fuel, they cut down on the amount of waste that goes to our junkyards.
I would also like to see a push towards halting suburbanization. I would like to see people living closer to their jobs, and not have to drive 20 miles each way to get to work. I want a push to build up, not out. People should have the option to live in a building that provides living, medical, entertainment, work and grocery space; so that everything is within walking distance.
Finally, I want a firm push towards increasing the fuel economy of vehicles, while still allowing the power that so many people seem to crave in their vehicles.
Posted by: Darb | November 05, 2008 at 12:10 PM
I have written many a comment on my own blog (http://questioneverything.typepad.com/ ) and on Dot Earth mentioning that we are facing a time of great sacrifice and hard work. We have grown spoiled by cheap energy flows doing so much work for us through machines. But we have reached what amounts to the peak in energy and year over year we will have less and less energy to do our work for us.
This is already manifesting itself in the financial arena and will become increasingly obvious over the next decade as we move into a permanent depression while recognizing inflation of the money supply.
Unfortunately the magnitude of needed energy flow to sustain our current life style simply cannot be replaced by alternative energy sources. The scale and time simply don't permit it to happen. There will be development of an alternative energy infrastructure, to be sure, but it will never come close to supplying the amount of energy we have become accustomed to. And it will not support the number of people we have grown to.
So sacrifice and hard work are in the offing. I was happy that Obama finally is revealing this reality to the public. Now that he has won handily, I hope to hear more emphasis on this and see signs that we can muster the will to face it realistically.
Posted by: George Mobus | November 05, 2008 at 07:29 PM
Embracing these the extraordinary challenges (services, sacrifices, etc.) we're currently delivering to ourselves is SO MUCH EASIER with all the hope we've been generating lately with our actual election of President Barack.
Our governing body, our selves as U. S. citizens, seems sufficiently invigorated with actual hope, that I'm feeling quite certain that now's the best time to trust that by simply encouraging the liberation of more young eco-geniuses (among other radically evolutionary human activities), we'll be making our wisest investments in basic human capital = the very kinds of conscious capital (e. g., social, cultural, public trust, and any other substantive human activity) that give meaning to money in the first place. The kinds of human activity that although their qualities are quite intangible, like hope, they provide sufficient strength among people to be collectively perceived as real; real enough to give new meaning to such traditional artifacts as money in particular as well as economic and financial performance measures in general. Since our traditional consensual-reality is making less and less sense, we may as well consider designing others or at least another that evoultion's more likely to favor. Let's not accelerate entropy, let's stymie entropy by learning to appreciate paths of least resistance. YESSS, WE CAN!!!!!!!
So, for me, it's onward through the vines, blog-threads, conversation-as-radical-act platforms and whatever other dimensions of our emergent social-networking ecosystems in which I can make sense and feel good about helping enable my species to evolve as consciously and compassionately as possible. Such consciousness and compassion may be necessary in managing the extraordinary challenges (services, sacrifices, etc.) we're currently delivering to ourselves.
Posted by: paul horan | November 07, 2008 at 07:56 PM