Over the past few weeks, various members of the online liberal/progressive community, that included quite a few Kossacks, worked together in a democratic fashion to create the Netroots Platform.
For those of you who have just joined us, check out Ferris Valyn's Mothership diary entry or yesterday's kickoff diary to get the whole picture.
For the Netroots Energy and Environment Plank, we had 34 Contributors who wrote 29 different versions, and 138 rankings. Join me over the fold to read the final version...
Our society is inexorably tied to conventional energy. It governs the way we live, the foods we eat and the economy upon which we depend. Today, we see an increasing urgency to find sustainable alternatives that will provide us and our environment with a cleaner way of life. Ten years ago would we have expected to see energy and environmental issues discussed on the Senate floor, on the tips of Presidential candidates' tongues, or on the daily pages of mass media outlets. We must use this momentum to drive the change that will lead us towards more sustainable energy in all facets of our systems:
Electricity (currently driven by dirty coal and questionably safe nuclear power).
Transportation of humans and goods (currently driven by imported gasoline) and
Heating in the northern climes (currently dominated by cleaner yet pricevolatile natural gas).
While a lofty yet achievable goal, the United States must commit to producing 100% of our electricity from cheap, clean renewable energy sources, like solar and wind, within 10 years. This will not only depend on investing in technologies that are commercially available today, but also must include substantial increases in investment for research and development for more efficient renewables and electricity storage. Without such R&D to make renewables more cost-competitive through efficient designs and government subsidies, renewable electric technologies will most likely always lag behind the cheaper yet dirtier alternative, coal. Of particular note, we should invest in a pilot plant for space solar power, and continued developmental work in all forms of fusion energy (magnetic containment, laser-powered inertial confinement, and inertial electrostatic fusion).
Over 30% of conventional fuels we use are devoted to transporting ourselves and the goods we depend upon. Our transportation network is based on the faulty premise that we have enough clean and inexpensive fuel to drive it. We must increase train transportation and reduce the distance from which our goods and foods come. We must also embark on a major effort to develop mass transportation - reducing private vehicle use by 30% within 10 years. And the private vehicles that do remain in existence must become much more efficient - we need to double or even triple the efficiency of all private vehicles.
Our throwaway society is unsustainable. Every good that we send to the landfill embodies energy that is lost when thrown away. To send the right signals, producers of products and our built environment need to be designed with the whole life cycle in mind. We need to replace our current cradle-to-grave disposable mindset with cradle-to-cradle design that will be healthy for all the children of all species for all time. When the price reflects the recycling and/or disposal costs, producers have an incentive to design for recycling and design out toxics. This idea is sweeping the nation. More than a dozen states - and New York City - have passed producer take-back recycling laws for electronics such as computers and TVs. Most have passed since May 2007.
The green economy has arrived and should be embraced. The United States should commit to rebooting our economy using the needs of a sustainable green economy to create jobs and develop new industries. We should commit to a Green New Deal to support energy efficiency and build renewable energy capacity to mitigate the negative effects of climate change and the economic consequences that will undoubtedly arise with expensive and dirty fuels.
We've already had some comments in yesterday's mothership from A Siegel about where this plank could use some improvement and we're looking forward to the possibility of working with everyone on that.
If you decide to recommend this diary, please also go back to the the mothership diary, and recommend it as well.
For those of you who want a little more reading:
Thursday's Kickoff Diary
The General Principle's Plank
The Civil Rights Plank
The Food & Agriculture Plank
The Education Plank
The Electoral Reform Plank
The Science & Technology Plan
If you want to read the entire platform and see how it was made, you can click here
Try these links to visit the discussion on myDD and Openleft...