For decades, Al Gore has challenged the skeptics in Washington on climate change and awakened the conscience of a nation to the urgency of this threat. I strongly agree with Vice President Gore that we cannot drill our way to energy independence, but must fast-track investments in renewable sources of energy like solar power, wind power and advanced biofuels, and those are the investments I will make as President. It’s a strategy that will create millions of new jobs that pay well and cannot be outsourced, and one that will leave our children a world that is cleaner and safer.
Gore's vision is not far-fetched technically; politics is the main hurdle particularly the resistance that would be encountered from the oil and other polluting energy industries. It could take ten years, the time between now and 2018, just to get legislation passed that would begin such a process. Unless, of course, the equation changes in Washington with more like-minded legislators coming into office.
The former vice president mentioned that the price of silicon, used to make solar energy cells, is coming down fast and no one doubts that with increased demand that prices will plummet further. The same thing happened in the computer industry.
"To those who say the challenge is not politically viable: I suggest they go before the American people and try to defend the status quo. Then bear witness to the people's appetite for change," Gore said. "Some of our greatest accomplishments as a nation have resulted from commitments to reach a goal that fell well beyond the next election: the Marshall Plan, Social Security, the interstate highway system."
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