All I Want for Christmas Is an Energy Policy

As we make our way through the harrowing times of the 21st Century, it becomes increasing disconcerting that the Unites States is still married to fossil fuels, and is doing essentially nothing about it. In particular, we have no energy policy. With respect to energy, we are aimless, with no direction and no focus.  Isn’t that amazing?  

We may soon be building an oil pipeline, the Keystone XL, right through the middle of the North American continent, that may be unnecessary -- and that even some oil companies think is overpriced. But because we have no policy that would serve as a guide to point towards a thought-out course of action, the pipeline makes just as much sense and the next guy’s idea. 

What I’d like for Christmas is to meet a Congressperson who has the guts to say:

“Here’s a list of major reasons (I’ve left out the minor ones) to phase out fossil fuels aggressively:

 • National security / terrorism

 • Health / lung disease

 • Global climate change, ocean acidification and other ecological disasters

 • Skyrocketing / crippling debt

 • Wars we can’t afford, and leave countless dead and wounded

 • Peak oil, coupled with burgeoning urban/consumer populations globally.

"You can argue about the relative importance of each of these, but for my money, we’ve spent enough time arguing about this already. Now the time has come for action, and we’re going to take it, regardless of what the oil companies say. We have a responsibility at this time and place in history, and by God, we’re going to live up to it.”

- Craig Shields is editor of 2GreenEnergy.com and author of Renewable Energy – Facts and Fantasies (published by Clean Energy Press, 2010)