Finally: A President Who "Gets It" on Sustainability
President Barack Obama’s inaugural address was deeply moving to me on many levels. And one of the most promising was his statements on energy.
First, he recognized both the environmental and national security disaster of our present policy:
Each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
And second, the clean solution:
We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.
Not since Jimmy Carter put solar panels on the White House and wore sweaters instead of overheating the building have we had a U.S. President with this consciousness.
Not Reagan, who promptly took the solar system OFF the roof. Not George H.W. Bush. Not even Clinton. And even though George W. Bush’s Crawford ranch is one of the Greenest houses in the country, his presidency has been a disaster for the environment, and an eight-year lost opportunity to address climate change while it’s still possible.
Hooray!
