I was watching a special on CNN regarding the economy, and something one of the panelists said really hit me. We've all been focused on trying to save the banks, or figuring out how to keep people in their homes... but there's something even bigger we need to think about.
The Great Depression was ended by the New Deal, but also by World War II, when we turned to manufacturing planes and tanks. After the war we needed to turn our economy to a post-wartime one, and started building houses, cars, and all those other things we didn't build and couldn't afford anyway while we were at war. Then we had a boom in manufacturing, our automobile industry was going strong and facing little competition from foreign brands.
Starting in the 70's and continuing into the 80's the boom was technology. I remember when my boss scoffed at the notion that everyone would have a computer on their desk one day! Now everyone not only has a computer, but a cellphone, likely an iPod, and multiple TVs. During this time we started to send manufacturing overseas and became more of a service-oriented society. Some companies like Dell and Microsoft did well in the manufacturing (or software) industries, but our manufacturing base largely began to disappear. No wonder China and India have become economic powerhouses.
Now it's the 2000's, and what is The Next Big Thing we need to build and consume? What's the next thing that everybody will have to have?
The only answer I see on the horizon is green technology. This could solve three problems at once -- our lack of jobs, particularly in manufacturing and retail; the massive environmental problems we will have if we continue to live the way we do; and it will stop our sending $700 billion a year overseas for foreign oil.
Green technology could affect almost every aspect of our lives. For cars, we could be looking at not only hybrid technology, but solar, hydrogen fuel cell, and advanced batteries. Fuel cells are being developed that could power our homes, our computers and other devices. Tankless water heaters already exist that could replace the old gas-powered ones that waste energy by heating and reheating the same water over and over again. How about solar-powered trains and buses? How many kids' toys need toxic batteries? Could those be replaced with some other green technology?
We already have a start on some of these, although there are difficulties with almost every technology currently out there. For instance, an investigation into Chinese companies who produce solar panels discovered that they were using toxic chemicals and dumping them into villages, sickening the people who live there. Not very environmentally happy! That's why we need to produce these here in the United States, where we can better regulate and control what goes into them.
It's a shame that one of our most ecologically fragile states, Alaska, has a far right-wing Governor in Sarah Palin who is so clueless when it comes to the environment. She refuses to admit that polar bears and whales need environmental protection. Her only concern is to drill and drill some more. Why? Because Alaskans get a cut of the profits, so the more she allows drilling the more she will be re-elected. Money in the pocket of your voters talks. She has absolutely no concern for the environmental health of the state she governs and refuses to acknowledge scientific data that is contrary to what she wants to do. We can no longer afford to leave the environment in the care of governors. Saving the environment through conservation measures and green technology must be mandated at the federal level.
Our oceans have large "dead spots," where not even plankton can survive due to pollution. No fish, no nothing. This is forcing fishermen to go farther and farther to get their catch. How much is our environment going to take before it collapses entirely? Enormous pieces of the Arctic ice shelf have been breaking off. Just last July a group of Russian researchers were forced to leave their station on an ice floe due to the ice becoming so thin. We are getting our warnings, and if we don't heed them, then we will be in for climate and landscape changes that will threaten our entire way of life.
We need to get this country back to making things, and not just consuming them. We need to quit sending money overseas to unfriendly countries who control the price of oil, and thereby control a large section of our economy. Remember what panic there was when the price of gas went up to $4 a gallon? This is not just an environmental issue, this is a national security issue. That's what the right-wing "drill, baby, drill" nuts never understood. Our nation can easily be strangled by cutting off oil, and no matter what Sarah Palin says, we don't have enough oil in the U.S. to put a drop in the bucket compared to what we use.
So I say -- bring on the green! It's our best chance at saving the economy, our environment, and securing our country.
