Help increase support for rapid increases in Renewable Energy......

Today’s post: Wednesday, 12-3-2008

1. First, burning fossil fuels is already harming our economy, our health, and our entire world’s environment.

And, it will act as an increasingly worse brake on our economy the longer we continue to do it. So, developing abundant renewable energy to replace that will begin to remove that brake. This alone will improve our economy.

One analyst was recently quoted as saying most developed countries will need $50 billion or more each year to overcome the costs created by ongoing global warming.

The medical costs of the huge amounts of air pollution alone may begin to cost that much.

2. But the upside is MUCH better. We are beginning to develop the technologies & build the companies that clearly will allow us to build so much new renewable energy generation and add or retrofit so much energy efficiency into our economy that within 15 to 30 years we can double our current use of energy and increase by four times the usable or effective energy that we have AND do all that with just renewable energy alone.

Eventually this will result in a MUCH stronger economy that needs perhaps 10 percent or less of the fossil fuels we currently use. And this will keep declining in both percentage and total use each year after that until it approaches zero. (However, we will still use petroleum for petrochemicals as oilman J. Paul Getty long ago foresaw.)

Readers of this blog & other people who have been following the sources I have know this information. A dramatically stronger economy with more energy and much more effective energy that is nearly 100 % based on renewable sources IS possible.

BUT, as many as 50 or 60 percent of the people in the United States do NOT yet know or believe that the cumulative effects of these developments CAN be that large if we act now to begin putting them in place.

Even worse, many otherwise intelligent and educated people are in that very large group of people.

The problem is that they have NOT been following the kinds of developments that have been posted here and in the news elsewhere enough to realize that this CAN be done OR how bad things will get if we don’t.

Unfortunately, unless this group of people can be brought up to speed on these developments and how fast the different technologies are improving and what is already doable, they won’t give our new President and others who are taking action the support they need to do the job.

Today, you have an opportunity to help change this.

Al Gore is raising money to put coverage of this information on TV on the 60 Minutes TV program.

To be sure, many people don’t watch this program. BUT, the people who DO watch it are well educated and well informed. They make more money than the average person. And, the people who know them know and respect them for these being well informed.

This effect is multiplied by the fact that many journalists and other new professionals watch 60 Minutes, particularly for important new stories.

This means that when the people who see 60 Minutes see that truly HUGE gains in renewable energy ARE possible, they will be very influential in transmitting the information to other people.

So, I think this is a very good thing to do.

Here’s how you can help.:

Here’s the info I got by email from Al Gore’s group.

“Dear David, The incoming administration is deciding right now how ambitious they can be on climate and energy policy. We need to help build broad public understanding and strong support for the kind of deep, structural change needed to end the climate crisis and revive our economy.Our next series of ads paints portraits of Americans making this change happen. It launches nationwide this week, and we could really use your help getting out the word. If we can raise $121,000 by Thursday, we'll extend our airtime purchase to get the first new Repower America ad on 60 Minutes this weekend.See the first ad in this new series here, and please help if you can. I think you'll really like it. Just click here:http://www.repoweramerica.org/60minutesad

This series of ads is designed to make the opportunity real and concrete. Ranchers making money from wind. Electricians wiring old buildings to be energy efficient. Jobs, clean energy, a strong economy. The climate crisis averted. This is the future under a 'Repower'ed America'. Most people don't realize that the proven technologies needed already exist today. We have to show them. And we don't have much time.For years, the fossil fuel industry has worked overtime to brand renewable energy as a tree-hugger delusion. But exactly the opposite is true. For example, wind power is cheap and a mature technology. Wind turbines produce electricity for less cost than oil or natural gas plants, and are competitive with new coal plants, even today. And building the wind turbines to capture this energy will create good manufacturing and construction jobs here in America. Of course, once you build the turbines you don't have to pay for any expensive foreign oil or dirty coal. American workers making the tools to harness clean American energy -- that's what the Repower America plan is all about.This ad also depicts an electric pickup truck, which is particularly head turning. The oil companies have worked for years to make people think that electric cars can never rival internal combustion in power or performance, and that's just plain wrong. Hybrids are ready today, as you know. And cars build with electric motors are four times as efficient as today's cars with gasoline engines. That's why electric cars can run on less than $1.00 per gallon-equivalent, if you get your clean power from wind, for example. And electrics can deliver all the torque and power anyone could want. It's time for Detroit to begin building this new fleet of 21st century cars.Can you help us get this ad on the air? Just go to:http://www.repoweramerica.org/60minutesad

In their hearts, everyone knows that Al Gore is right. That our biggest problems are all intertwined. That "we're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet." And that "Every bit of that's got to change."Now it's time to start talking about what that change should look like. The oil and coal companies have thousands of lobbyists on Capitol Hill promoting their idea of change. Which is,of course, really more of the same. Together, we need to work to get out the truth. Because the future is bright, if we'll just build it.Thanks,Cathy ZoiCEOwww.RepowerAmerica.org “