The Rise of Environmental Superpowers

The transformative power of technology is made evident by the economic might of the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries. We invented the airplane, telephone and mass production. We mechanized farming and brought electricity to cities and farms. We landed on the moon, and peered back billions of years into the past with space-based telescopes. We smashed atoms and purified insulin. We were unstoppable.

Our technology created a country so wealthy and powerful that the United States transformed into a colossus never before witnessed by mankind. Our military, economic and cultural reach knew no bounds.

And we are right now squandering our legacy in a stinking heap of ignorance and myopia. McCain wants to continue this sordid tradition.

We have fallen so far that soon we will no longer be able to put a human into orbit. Instead, we need to beg the Russians for a ride to the Space Station. Eight years is enough. We cannot afford four more. The choice between a bright future and our continued collapse could not have been clearer in last night's presidential debate.

The 21st century belongs to the country that masters green technologies and renewable energy. The false dichotomy between growth and the environment is an anachronism born from the failures of conservative thought. Conservatives believe that growth is only possible at the expense of the environment, and that any and all efforts to protect our resources impede growth. That philosophy is wrong on every count. Environmentalism is not the ideology of left wing socialists, but instead the true engine of all future economic growth. Just as the United States rose to greatness on the engine of industrialization, the world's next great superpower will come to dominate by mastering green technologies. Consider the national security implications of moving successfully to a hydrogen economy free from the tyranny of foreign oil. The Middle East will become nothing but another spot on the map, contributing no more than Tanzania or Lichtenstein to world affairs. Consider the benefits of clean energy from sun and wind giving life to factory and farms with local sources of power invulnerable to attacks on a national grid. Imagine a transportation sector that pollutes nothing but a few drops of water from each tailpipe.

These scenarios are science fiction only in the United States. Other countries have embraced this vision, and we now are the fading image in their rear-view mirror. Is this just theory, the pontification of a pointy-head academic? Well, let's compare the automobile industry in the United States and Japan. U.S. automakers received early this month a $25 billion loan from taxpayers. This generous bailout was a necessity because their products are uncompetitive in a global market. We, the people, are paying them, the industry, to charge us more for inferior goods. Meanwhile, over in Japan...

Have you heard of the FCX Clarity? If not, that is probably due to the noise and fog of whining and begging from GM and brethren drowning out any word of creativity outside our borders. The Clarity is Honda's production-line hydrogen-fuel-cell automobile. This is not an experimental model made for a glitzy auto show, but instead a family car ready to be delivered to customers. The Clarity already has the EPA's stamp of approval for sale in the United States. Honda now makes the most technologically-advanced, greenest production car in the world. Honda is not an American name. Toyota and Mazda are not far behind. Toyota and Mazda are not American names. Our big entry into this market is GM's Volt, which can go a whopping 25 miles on a charge. Mitsubishi's electric car will get something like 100 miles between charges, and will likely sport quick-charge capabilities. We are simply getting killed on battery technology, with implications well beyond transportation, including the storage of energy from wind and sun after the sun has set and the wind settled down.

As the reigning superpower, that mantle is ours to lose, and we are doing a spectacular job of doing so. We are running out of time. We truly cannot afford the loss of four more years after the disaster of the past eight. Either we embrace the future, and support a shift to a green economy, or we perish as a major player on the world stage. The choice is ours. The lever we pull on November 4 will certainly help determine the direction we take.

Comments

[GoVeg]

I was thinking about getting a EV and also solar-panels on my roof to charge it up, but will wait for now until Obama policies are implemented.

[mlaiuppa]

Again with hydrogen? Hydrogen is a distraction. It isn't efficient, affordable and is NOT the future. No one is going to be able to afford a $1 million dollar Clarity. And most of us are prestigious enough to qualify for a lease. They won't build enough to make a difference and there is no infrastructure, nor is there going to be.

There is already an infrastructure for EVs.

Mass transit and EVs are the future.

[Jeff Schweitzer - Huffpost Blogger]

EVs are great technology, but only as a transition to hydrogen. EVs still require power plants to produce and transmit energy over great distances. The Clarity will be priced competitively with traditiona­lly-powere­d vehicles. Going to a hydrogen economy is not rocket science. The U.S. government created the national highway system, which encouraged the growth of piston automobiles. That same level of investment could easily subsidize early-production hydrogen vehicles and the development of filling stations across the country to ease the transition. The technology and methodologies are there; we only now lack the political will.

So, yes, again with the hydrogen. Get on board.

[Overtone]

You might be interested to learn that revolutionary new technologies make possible what might be called fuel-free fuel cells.

They will be inherently inexpensive, and use previously untapped sources of energy that are abundant and renewable.

See our website: magneticpo­werinc.com for more information.

Or releases on RenewableE­nergyWorld­.com

[KillTheMessenger]

Who let the crazies in?

[Penny Gruber]

In some four years of claiming working devices that deliver energy for free MPI have never evidenced anything other than a desire to flush investor money down the toilet.

[mjt218]

I would love to see a world where we no longer have to project our power specifically to protect our oil interests. I don't think this is just an issue in the Middle East by any means. We project power in the Indian Ocean to control access to the Persian Gulf, as well as the energy rich areas of SE Asia and NW Austrailia. We project our power in the Atlantic in part to preserve the flow of oil from East Africa and South America. Ongoing struggles with Russia concerning Georgia, Ukraine and the rest of Central Asia are tied to our national security through the oil interests there. China is building infrastructure all over Africa to free up natural resources.

If you think Detroit's inaction on fuel standards or batteries puts it in bed with oil interests, how closely is the industrial military complex tied to oil? Getting off oil is a game-changer for so much of America's 20th century establishment.

However, I don't think we should just write alternatives a blank check on enhancing national security. It is very likely that some other natural resource will become pivotal in green technologies. The debate is complicated enough as it is, but we should consider the long term foreign policy impacts of becoming overly reliant on battery technologies with specific catalysts and films, or solar panels made from specific semiconductors, etc.

[txbluedot]

Great article as usual, Jeff! And your head is not pointy. ;)

If people are interested in what you're saying here they really should read your book, Vote to Save the Planet. It's a very important book right now, obviously! I have ordered several to give away to people before the election.

[ShawnMichel]

One could easily argue that since renewables last forever (as opposed to oil, which is running out as we speak), those countries with the edge in green energy will rise to superpower status--and stay there. This is in stark contrast the the United States, who refuses to let go of the oil teat--an oil teat running dry--and so is falling, and fast.

Interesting that the Republinazis and their ilk haven't reasoned that through yet.

Interesting--but not surprising.

[Jeff Schweitzer - Huffpost Blogger]

Exactly; superpower status awaits the country that masters renewables and sustainable use of all resources, and then sells the relevant technologies to the rest of the world.