Posts Tagged by Jimmy Carter
US Policy on Clean Energy – The Road Not Taken?
| June 29, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Politics |
A friend from the UK asked for my take on a new Swiss movie on Jimmy Carter’s efforts to reduce the United States’ dependence on oil at the end of the 1970s. He points out, “I am sure it will not be well known in the States. Perhaps it should be.”
The movie in question, “The Road Not Taken,” is a documentary centering around President Jimmy Carter’s having a series of solar panels installed on the roof of the White House. At the time, he told the crowd gathered to mark the installation of the new units:
“A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken, or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people – harnessing the power of the sun to enrich our lives as we move away from our crippling dependence on foreign oil.”
A few years later, President Ronald Reagan famously had the solar panels removed.
I wrote back:
In my mind, there is no doubt that the conversation, mute as it is in the US, has already added luster to Carter’s star and, I suppose, some tarnish to Reagan’s. But I’m more interested to know what this means in terms of the future. We’re still subsidizing fossil fuels. There are still 7000 lobbyists cruising around the Beltway influencing lawmakers to ensure that that oil, coal, and gas remain at the core of our energy future until the last drop of crude is sucked out of the Earth, we’ve ripped the top off the last mountain, and fracked the planet’s crust to smithereens.
Having said that, there are hundreds of lively discussions in the blogosphere every day about the R&D for clean energy. Bill Gates’ 2010 TED talk is getting some very good distribution. Perhaps this stark dichotomy between these two US presidents and the concept of the “road not taken” will be viewed as an iconic piece of US history — and perhaps it can be spun into the idea that “it’s not too late to get back on the right road.”
We can hope.
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Energy Conservation
| December 23, 2009 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Politics |
For some reason, I’m always somewhat surprised to read comments about conservation – they’re numerous, and they’re heartfelt. Frequent commentor Dan Conine writes:
The first alternative energy project that should always be funded is CONSERVATION. THEN whatever we do, won’t cost so much to implement. It is always easier to conserve first, so that we don’t have to make up lost ground for over-consumption in order to survive.
All this is perfectly true, of course. But I’m worried that we, as a race, simply don’t have the stomach for it.
I don’t claim to have a read on the consciousness of those outside the US — but I do think I understand Americans. I’m reminded of Jimmy Carter with his cardigan sweater, addressing a national audience on television in the late 1970s, asking us to turn our thermostats down. Let’s just say that this didn’t resonate.
A bit later he was voted out of office in a humiliating landslide, replaced by Ronald Reagan whose platform was essentially the opposite: America is tough. We don’t need sissy solar panels on the White House. Tear ‘em down. We’re strong, rogue wildcatters who drill for oil of which there is in infinite supply underneath our fruited plains which God Himself blesses. Reagan, you’ll recall, was one of the most popular presidents in history; we would have elected him king if we could have.
I’m afraid that this same mentality still lies at the core of the American psyche. Witness the backlash against the theory of global warming and the support for “drill-baby-drill,” nuclear energy, and the expansion of the war in the Middle East. We’re tough, we drill, and we fight. We take no crap. And regardless of how backward and insensitive our policies, God still smiles on us.
And mostly, witness the fact that Americans do not support austerity in any form. We’ll run up our national debt exponentially, but we will absolutely not (neither Republicans nor Democrats) confront the financial pain that is inexorably headed our way.
Dan: Conservation may sound like a good idea to you and me, but I’m afraid it’s a non-starter on a national scale.
