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| Author: |
Mike |
| Dated: |
Mon Sep 18, 2006 at 06:39 PM |
| Viewed: |
1,012 times |
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 So I scored a big lucky one today and got to go see Al Gore's speech
down at NYU during the only free time I had in my class schedule
today. And, honestly, he hit it out of the park. He focused
his talk on Global Warming, and how we should see it as an opportunity
to regain our technical, economic, and moral leadership. Really
fantastic talk, loaded with specifics, like getting rid of payroll
taxes (which suppress hiring) and replacing them with carbon/pollution
taxes (which would suppress pollution.) Very practical, very
optimistic in the best possible way (as opposed to Bush's clapping his
hands over his ears and shouting that everything is gonna be okay.)
One of the most interesting elements from the talk involved what Gore
called the Electronet, a distributed energy-generation system composed
of rooftop solar, locally-grown biofuel generators, rural windmills,
etc. linked together in a smart robust way. Like the Internet,
but for power. No more worries about someone bombing the great
big expensive centralized power station--a network of small-scale
operators, even your family's own home or your office building,
contributing clean renewable energy to a vast intereconnected power
grid. Brilliant, and totally representative of the kinds of
initiatives he brought up.
I know I was totally down on him in 2000. Frankly, I think I had
good reason. But this guy has come around in a big way. He
ain't afraid of anything, and he's assumed the kind of moral leadership
that the rest of the party can't yet match. So, I'll say it load
and proud: Gore in 2008. Because we really, REALLY need
what he's got cookin'.
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