Yes, it is. As I’ve been saying, we need to address global warming in a radical way, and maybe Obama is the man to do it. We’ve ignored global warming for too long, doing nothing during the embarrassing administration of George W. Bush — perhaps making the problem worse by not ratifying Kyoto and putting industry above ecology.
President Obama met with Al Gore to discuss these environmental matters. He stated:
The time for delay is over; the time for denial is over. We all believe what the scientists have been telling us for years now that this is a matter of urgency and national security and it has to be dealt with in a serious way.
While I’m thankful that there’s finally someone in the white house (OK, soon…) who will actually pay attention to real science, I’m not sure the Congress will do the same. This seems evident by the Big 3 fiasco. Here is an opportunity for us to really make a difference in the environmental impact of the American auto industry, but I’m afraid we’re distracted by economics. They should not get a cent unless environment trumps economics. The farcical quality of these hearings is unbearable. People keep going on and on about jobs that are in danger: well, jobs would still be there if we refocused the industry toward a greener future. There might even be more jobs. Maybe Americans need to be weened from their car addiction anyway?
We have less than 10 years to drastically reduce the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Hopefully that will begin with Obama.
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