Whenever China is engaged on their pollution and energy problems, the inevitable response seems to be, “Hey, you western industrialized nations were able to grow dirty for more than 150 years, using cheap coal and oil. Now it’s our turn.”
It’s a tough argument to refute, and finally we must agree with them. “Yes, you’re right, now it’s your turn.” But we also know that with our Green Environmental policies, we just need perhaps another five years all the clean energy technologies the entire world will need and clamor for as they choke to death on their own pollution.
Now China too is finding that it will have to go green out of sheer necessity because in too many places, its people can’t breathe, fish, swim, drive or even see because of pollution and the effects its inevitable climate change. We know that necessity is the mother of invention, and the Chinese are moving in a big way to developing solar, wind, batteries, nuclear and energy efficient technologies on its low-cost platform.
It’s become more and more clear that if the U.S. fails to adopt an economy wide carbon abatement program, we will be ceding leadership in new worldwide energy technology. The alternative for us is business as usual and end-up buying windmills from Europe, batteries from Japan and solar panels from Asia.
President Obama is focused on universal health care and on putting the green energy technology on the back burner for the time being.
I believe that health care and clean energy go together, and we need them both..
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