I really didn't want to write about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico this week.
Having spent the past three summers sifting through the remains of the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, the new scenes of human misery, the familiar lack of leadership and continuing destruction of such a beautiful coast leaves me seething mad.
Have we not learned anything about man-made disasters?
But here I am. Forgive me though, if I only skirt the actual event itself. If you want a blow-by-blow of the spill itself, turn on CNN. Anderson Cooper will be happy to oblige you.
In the meantime, there is not much to be done by ordinary citizens to mop up our astronomical petro-mess. You can donate your hair for oil mats or pray; that's about it. What it's really time for now is to turn our attention to radically changing our future energy policy.
Months before the Deepwater Horizon accident, President Obama laid out an ill-fated proposal to expose a prodigious swath of ocean to oil exploration. The plan, intended to decrease our nation's reliance on capricious foreign oil sources, generate revenue for the federal government's emaciated coffers and just maybe win the embattled president some political capital appears moot at this point.
Before this accident, it seemed important to alter the basic foundations of our petro-economy by exploring alternative fuels. Now, it's an imperative.
Up until now, our political leadership has adhered to a quick-fix mentality. Our leaders try to forestall the inevitable in the effort to live to fight another day. In the oil industry, this perspective boils down to the simple mantra of "drill baby drill." Stave off the unavoidable price inflations caused by reduced supply by taking out high interest loans on our futures. A global petro-subprime mortgage, if you will. Minimal down payment now, exorbitant rates later.
But that won't work any longer for numerous reasons. The first fact to consider is that oil is a commodity that won't be around forever. According to most scientists worth their salt, the United States reached domestic "peak oil" - the point at which net production begins to decline - in 1970. In other words, even if reserves prove to be rich with oil and natural gas, increased drilling could only mitigate our losses for a few years.
Furthermore, it's only a matter of time before the world must face its own peak oil. And we'll have no extraterrestrial Saudi Arabia to bail us out this time.
Oil is on its way out, and we need to recognize this fact. It's not a partisan issue, it's the plain truth and no one loses by acknowledging it. So what do we need to do? How can we combat our tendency to pass the buck? How can Obama move toward a genuine solution?
I draw inspiration from Thomas Friedman.
The technophile New York Times columnist has long been a proponent of a government-initiated "Green New Deal."
By providing direct investment, subsidies for research, taxation for fossil fuel emissions and setting escalating standards, he argues, the government can provide the impetus the private sector needs to break its addiction to oil.
It's flat out good business to do so, as long as American oil companies, awash in capital, continue to wedge their heads in the proverbial sand.
For example, Shell Oil recently cut all investments going forward in wind, solar, and hydrogen technologies. It's mind-boggling to think about what these companies could come up with if they invested in renewable resources at levels parallel to those following the 1970s' energy shocks.
In other words, we have an opportunity, a plan and an all-too-real reminder of oil's consequences, so what are we waiting for?
To put it simply, this stimulus requires a new style of political leadership devoted to a particular brand of "green machismo." Being "green" can no longer be confined to Cafe Gratitude's clientele. The private sector needs a strong-armed leader with a green prerogative. A modern-day Theodore Roosevelt with a trust-buster mentality toward our petro-economy must present him or herself, and quickly.
And for taking this position, he or she will be rewarded by history.
Every great president took on a crisis: George Washington and the fledgling nation, Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, FDR and World War II. Revolutionizing our petro-economy will be no different. By making the initial investment in our green future, this leader will be credited by posterity for re-establishing American international prestige, averting a world crisis and championing the health of our environment.
So while the Deepwater Horizon hemorrhages crude oil into the Gulf, the question becomes: Will Obama be our green messiah? If not Obama, then who else will have the political moxie to stand up and say enough is enough?
The fate of our economy, environment, and future depends on their emergence.