Barack Obama recently said that the oil spill is a reason to cure our addiction to oil. He is completely right. Fossil fuels are powerful, but will only give us trouble in the future. They are non-renewable meaning that they are going to run out eventually. They pollute the environment and the air. Compared to clean electricity, fossil fuels don't look so good. While Obama says he is going to increase investment in green technologies, who knows if he's actually going to do it. The future will tell whether he will live up to his promise. Meanwhile, in Canada, we have a prime minister who is continuing to give tax breaks to big oil. They already make billions of dollars each year. You may as well give the companies subsidies for destroying the environment. What we really need in North America is alternatives to oil. We need high speed rail, subsidies for electric and hybrid cars and cleaner electricity. Most of all we need a carbon tax so that our addiction to oil will end and soon.
The stakes are high for Canada, as U.S. President Barack Obama starts talking about a greener energy future, because any attack on the oil "addiction" in the United States influences our own oil habit.
BP's Gulf oil spill gives Obama a terrific opportunity to make changes. Now we have to hope the president has better cards up his sleeve than his predecessors.
Read more at the
Ottawa Citizen.
Amen.
ReplyDeleteWe have 1/5th of the world's fresh water supply. That also translates into lots of potential for tidal energy (electric), hydro. Nuclear is always a fairly clean alternative, but why bother when we have so much capacity for electric? We have great open spaces that could easily capture wind. We are a very windy nation. Solar? The Prairies are drenched in sunshine year round. Why don't we convince farmers to produce clean solar energy, rather than subsidized grain? Animals can still forage around the base of the wind turbines/solar arrays. Cattle and these options coexist this way nicely.
We're part of a group clamoring for more rail transit in the Lower Mainland BC. It should be done. When we talk about "Urban agendas" and "metro plans", rail transit, and better public transit (electric/hybrid buses, etc.) must be the first things on the table.