Just what can we accomplish in 315,360,000 seconds?
A decade. That’s a lot of time to get something done. Wouldn’t you agree?
Today I had some down time at work and a colleague of mine walked by my office (and by “office” I mean my 4 1/2′ by 6′ cubicle) and made a comment about the article I was reading on the Internet. The headline read:
“Gore wants US to produce all power through Earth-friendly energy sources within 10 years”
After catching a glimpse of the text in bold, my beloved colleague said something along the lines of: “…I could fart under the covers and it would still smell in 10 years. A decade is hardly any time at all when you want to shut down all the coal plants and run the country on windmills…” Does he have a point? Maybe a little one. America does indeed have trillions invested in our coal energy grid. But as far as a decade being a short amount of time to make dramatic changes? A quick Google search shows just what America can do when they put their minds to a task. Check these out:
1) Hoover Dam - 4 years
2) First man on the moon - 8 years after JFK promised it to Congress
3) Panama Canal - 9 and 1/2 years after Woodrow Wilson broke ground.
4) American Revolution - 8 years
5) Transcontinental Railroad - 6 years
6) First practical fixed wing aircraft - took only two years after Kitty Hawk to make it happen.
7) Golden Gate Bridge - 4 and 1/2 years
8 ) World Trade Center Towers - 6 years
9) Empire State Building - 1 and 1/2 years
10) Win World War II - 6 years
Nobody can honestly say that America isn’t capable of getting together and doing something about our addiction to fossil fuels after looking at the events above. But, you know what the problem is?
Bipartisan Politics
If Republicans and Democrats would quit going back and forth on the issue and putting it off and putting it off, we could easily start the transition to Wind, Solar and Wave power. If the two parties could focus their attention on a common goal, America could do it. Just like the two-party system got together and created Social Security and the Interstate Highway system. They weren’t created in a day, rather they were developed over multiple presidencies - Republican and Democrat.
The state of Texas just approved a plan to pump 4.9 BILLION more dollars into its already booming windmill operation. Remember, Texas is the center of the American oil industry. Where are they getting the money to do this? Consumers. The energy consumers of Texas will pay an additional 3 to 4 dollars on their electricity bill a month for the next 5 or 6 years. That’s it. The upgrade will in-turn be able to power 4 million more Texas homes. If the oil capital of the United States can pull something this extraordinary off, there is no reason - NONE! - that the rest of America cannot follow suit. Can you imagine the money we will save in the long run by spending a total of about 300 dollars per household over the course of 6 years?
Maybe Al Gore is a little bit overly-ambitious, but not much.
In the mean time, the technology is out there to capture carbon emissions from coal powerplants and bury them in the ground instead of pumping them into the atmosphere. Many utility companies evidently think this technology is not cost effective and will cut into their profits *sniffle, sniffle*
It is amazing how Capitalism and Bipartisan politics can combine forces to make sure that absolutely nothing ever gets accomplished for the good in this country.
It’s not that simple though I applaud your ideas. Energy is global. We have the Kyoto Protocol, for instance. (OK, Bush refused to sign it, but still.) We have climate action reports coming out of last month’s Council on Foreign Relations meeting and this month’s G8 summit, both of which have U.S. involvement. We have a war going on in Asia. We have mortgage issues and now banking loans that need to be paid. Economic hell.
But it could always be worse. Can anything happen in 10 years? Sure. Will it? I don’t know.
Sorry I’ve been remiss from your posts lately; I like how you think. I just overhauled my blog’s design tonight if you feel like peeking.
Comment by Ari Herzog — July 18, 2008 @ 1:28 am
I am forced to respond to Ari’s comment: Ari, and how do you feel about China not signing onto Kyoto? Does that bother you? It should bother you more so than Bush not signing it. Especially when you consider the massive amount of pollution China faces on a daily basis. Look at how China is trying to hastily clean up their air before the Olympics come to Bejing as the prime example. Compare the United States of America to China in terms of who is cleaner and I think the evidence is quite clear in favor of the US of A, yes? Funny though, I never hear about the environmentalists getting on the case of China, especially when it comes to China getting ready (if they haven’t already done so) drilling off the Florida coast.
Andy, I have to comment on what you said, too. You said, and I quote, “10) Win World War II - 6 years” It took SIX years to win World War II? Dang am I glad that people like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Mr. Murtha were not around back then. Otherwise, they’d be calling the war a failure and our troops murderers. Six years. That’s just way too long, isn’t it Andy?
Fascinating.
Comment by Braden — July 21, 2008 @ 7:02 pm
I will be honest, I keep reading your comment to me over and over and I have absolutely no idea what point you are trying to make…
Comment by admin — July 21, 2008 @ 7:17 pm
Just a quick question, how exactly did it take America 6 years to wil WWII??? You didn’t turn up till 1941!! We had already been at it for 2 years!
Comment by Paul Webster — July 30, 2008 @ 1:31 am
You have a point there. I stand corrected. I guess I was counting from 1939 not even thinking about the fact that we didn’t get in there until 1941. I guess you could technically say it took us 10 years to win it because we didn’t sign the Treaty of San Francisco with Japan until 1951.
Any other historical inaccuacies on my behalf?
So, where are you from? I noticed you said “We” had already been there.
Comment by admin — July 30, 2008 @ 9:58 am