Energy: A challenge to us all

An editorial from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Former Vice President Al Gore’s recent call for the nation to produce all electricity from wind, solar and other renewable sources within 10 years appears unattainable, energy wonks have been quick to note.

And we appear to be part of that naysaying pack.

In the editorial above, we commend Gov. Jim Doyle’s Task Force on Global Warming for setting goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 22% by 2022 and a 75% reduction by 2050. That’s not zero in 10 years.

We commend those Wisconsin goals because they are “realistic,” as in doable, but that doesn’t mean that we oppose speeding things up.

We put those quotation marks around the word because we also realize that citing “realism” often has been just another way of slowing progress.

So, here’s the real utility in Gore’s call for speedier progress: It recognizes that deeper commitment can produce speedier results.

Too costly to move quicker? Those costs have to be weighed against those already levied by our reliance on fossil fuels. And the time allowed to break this addiction to oil has to be weighed against how every minute, every hour, every day of carbon emissions brings the world closer to that tipping point that spells global catastrophe.

Posted in: Peak oil