Is the Navy greener than California?
As more polls show that a majority of Americans want action on carbon pollution and global warming, leadership on fighting climate change is coming from surprising places -- starting with the military.
At a recent reception held by the Environmental Defense Fund in Washington D.C., Defense Secretary Leon Panetta gave a speech in which he connected the dots between climate change, energy and security issues. He became the highest-ranking official in the Obama administration to do so.
Panetta explained that his Department of Defense is facing a budget shortfall of more than $3 billion because of unexpected fuel costs. "I have a deep interest in more sustainable and efficient energy options," he said. Secretary Panetta went on to describe how the U. S. military will be called on for humanitarian assistance in the face of rising seas, longer droughts, and more frequent and the severe natural disasters that are a result of global warming.
Secretary Panetta was followed on the podium by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, who has served since May 2009. In 1987, the Harvard-trained lawyer became the youngest governor in the nation when he won office in Mississippi. Mabus declared, in an inimitably rich Southern drawl: "We buy too much fossil fuel from the most volatile places on earth."
He emphasized that "drilling alone will never solve our national security concerns over foreign oil." Mabus went on to announce that the Navy has made a commitment to get 50 percent of its energy from renewable sources, like biofuels, solar and wind, by 2025. That's the most ambitious goal for renewable energy in the country -- higher even than California's!
Mabus pointed out that the Navy has always led in pioneering new sources of fuel, whether it was from moving from sail to coal in the 1850s, to oil in the 20th century, and nuclear energy in the 1950s. "Every time, there were doubters and naysayers," he said forcefully. "Every time. And every single time, they were wrong and they will be wrong again this time."
Mabus vigorously countered the argument that renewable energy is more expensive. "Well of course it is! Every new technology is more expensive. What if we hadn't started using computers because they were more expensive than typewriters? What if we hadn't started using cell phones because they were more expensive than land lines? Where would we be?"
Both Panetta and Mabus are on the front lines again -- in a battle that will help us curb carbon emissions and lead us to energy independence. Anyone want to join the notoriously craven science deniers at the Heartland Institute in their claim that any leader who fights global warming is no better than tyrants and killers like Charles Manson, Osama bin Laden and Unabomber Kacyznski?
Go ahead. Make Secretary Mabus' day.
PLEASE TAKE ACTION WITH MOMS CLEAN AIR FORCE!
Luckily the military is able to avoid some of the lies and ideology of politics, at least some of the time.
Decrease NOX and unburned hydrocarboÂns.70%!
http://www.thevitalizer.com/index.htm
Sonic Spark Plugs (Piezo) or Halo or Pulstar
Tornado Vortex Generator
Even More Mpgs Torque & HP.
http://www.hydrogenboostnow.com/HHO-Dry-Cell.htm
Biofuels: Thinking Outside the Barrel
Why a positive energy future could be closer than you think
http://www.brasschecktv.com/videos/energy/biofuels-thinking-outside-the-barrel.html
But anyone can see that the billions upon billions we spend on oil and fossil fuels ends up in the wallets of governments that don't have our best interests at heart. It's a pretty terrible cycle, the more active our military gets, the more money we spend on fuel, and the countries that seem to produce the very people we're fighting against get richer. Less fossil fuels means a safer, and more secure, military and country.
The answer to consuming less fuel will take on so many different parts. But the technology is out there for things as small as one soldier to benefit from, and from ways to power an entire military base using just the surrounding ocean water.
If that last sentence grabs your attention visit The ON Project.
http://www.theonproject.org/otec/?utm_source=huffpost&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=mscomment
"New fuel cell sewage gas station in Orange County, CA may be world's first"
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/orange_county&id=8310315
Note the Honda "Clarity" FCV (fuel cell vehicle) in the video! Looks ready to me... so does the infrastructure! Want Jobs? Here it is... and watch the price of oil drop to $40 a barrel... all in one shot!!!
NO MORE "ATTORNEY" / POLITICIAN / ""LOBBYISTS"" ... EVER AGAIN!!! big oil / utility OUT!!