As the average gasoline price recently reached $4.11, New York Times columnist Tom Friedman published a poignant commentary about how our addiction to fossil fuels is weakening our currency by shifting U.S. dollars abroad. Our cure, he says, is not cheaper gasoline prices, but a clean energy system.
On July 17, Al Gore challenged the nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and clean sources within 10 years. His website claims that climate crisis solutions can stimulate our economy to the tune of thousands of new companies, millions of new jobs and billions in revenue.
Even President Bush’s old buddy T. Boone Pickens is advocating the development of wind power to produce electricity and the use of natural gas to fuel cars and trucks. The Pickens Plan would save our country hundreds of billions of dollars per year on oil imports. Pickens is building the biggest wind farm in the world in Texas, which could be a model for the rest of the country.
Let’s hope these winds of change blow before we reach peak oil.
