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Editorial: Environment comes first
Action needed, not debate
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More from OpinionNo matter which side of the climate-change debate you are on, it makes sense to do everything possible to protect the environment.
A "man on the moon" effort to lessen this nation's dependence on fossil fuels, as former Vice President Al Gore called for Thursday, is precisely what this nation needs to do.
Switching all electricity production to carbon-free sources such as wind and solar can only benefit the environment.
Few can argue that human activity doesn't harm the environment. Human activity turned Lake Erie into such a polluted mess in the 1960s and 1970s that people called it "dead." Human activity turned Love Canal in New York, the Rocketdyne site near Simi Valley and the Halaco property in Oxnard into toxic nightmares.
Every year, millions of metric tons of nitrogen from human activities along the Mississippi watershed flow into the Gulf of Mexico and create a vast "dead zone" just off the coast of Louisiana that can stretch for 7,000 square miles.
Smog produced by automobile exhaust, pesticides sprayed on fields and pollution from steel, manufacturing and other heavy industries all contribute to damaging the environment.
Americans have risen to calls to action before, as they did when President Kennedy in 1961 set a goal to have a man walk on the moon and return safely within a decade.
The time for talk has ended. Debating whether climate change is man-made or natural only impedes the steps individuals, industry and governments need to take.
It would be nice if President Bush would do more to challenge the nation to convert to clean energy.
Doing nothing is not an option. Working toward carbon-free electricity within a decade is a necessary step toward protecting the delicate environment that sustains all life.
Posted by cassandra2 on July 19, 2008 at 10:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Great editorial.
Posted by nelsonknows on July 19, 2008 at 8:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Slick, nice propaganda piece, why is it that the VERY SAME environmentalists who call for elimination of carbon based energy are so against nuclear, wave and tidal energy and hydroelectric power? Now these same "environmentalists" are opposing wind turbines. I found almost 200,000 stories on Google of how so called environmentalists are fighting tooth and nail against wind turbines and even the far-left's hero, Ted Kennedy, is opposing wind turbines.
Al Gore is a fraud and a liar, 100 years ago he would have been tarred and feathered for conning the American People with his claims of Global Warming snake oil.
Get to the TRUTH of Lake Erie, environmentalists did NOTHING to clean up Lake Erie, that was all due to the Zebra Mussel and now endemic fish species are disappearing because the lake is too "clean".
When did debating facts become so egregious? Gasoline will probably hit $5 a gallon by the end of this summer and the American People want more exploration and refining of petroleum. Nancy Pelosi is refusing to let our Representatives do their jobs and cast their votes and represent their constituents. Why is this? Is Pelosi is afraid legislation to permit petroleum exploration will pass?
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