Once again, we're not partisan here, but clearly some worldchanging can only happen through government action.
Take energy. The rules and standards the American government sets for energy use, the energy sources it subsidizes and taxes and the solutions behind which America's political leaders throw their support have enormous planetary implications. The winner of the next presidential election will exercise profound influence on our ability to check global warming and pollution and our chances of building a bright green future.
We know what the current administration thinks we should do. What about the dems? BusinessWeek has a pretty interesting if skeptical brief overview of Kerry's proposed energy plan:
"John Kerry's blueprint for energy independence doesn't suffer from lack of ambition. In early August, he'll unveil an energy plan that he says can break America's addiction to foreign oil, revitalize the U.S. auto industry, help farmers and coal miners, fight global warming, and create jobs -- all for just $2 billion per year. "We can live in an America that is energy independent," Kerry promises....
"Yet strip out the over-the-top rhetoric, and Kerry's emerging plan is both a good starting point and a welcome contrast to the Bush Administration's focus on drilling for more oil. Kerry sets the right goals: significantly increase energy efficiency and use of alternative fuels. And he uses tax incentives, rather than relying solely on regulations, to help meet those goals."
To get more details, hit Kerry's site itself. There's a lot in here from the WorldChanging wishlist: better technology, more innovation, more renewables and efficiency. The Devil's always in the details, and if Kerry's elected, we'll see how much courage the new administration has when Congress gets their grimy hands on it, but beats the heck out of the last attempt to pass a national energy plan.
On an interesting side-note, I've been hearing a lot of folks talk about how the greenwashing which accompanied that disasterous attempt last year (talking about renewables, for instance, while putting the majority of the subsidy dollars behind coal, oil and nuclear) may actually have helped, as many folks from both sides of the aisle have embraced the idea of green energy and new technologies.
