Major note before I begin! If you have not read "The Next President" spoiler alert: it's mostly pro Obama!
So unless you've been living under a rock for the past "8 years" you've probably noticed our gas prices have sky rocketed. Under Holbrooke's Foreign Affairs section of "The Next President" he covers this issue in great deal concerning our use of petrodollars. Of course under the Bush administration there has been little urgency to create more efficient alternative energy sources. Not only is this an economical crisis for our country but an environmental one as well.
Currently, both the US and China are the world's major polluters. Holbrooke writes that in a recent trip to china, he brought up the issue of climate friendly technology with senior Chinese officials, who showed interest. Initially there is serious work to be done on both parts to make this happen and China's scepticism of us trying to hold us back is a problem, but that's why we need a strong leader to initiate a successful start to such plans. That's why we need 'the next president'.
2 comments:
- At September 3, 2008 at 3:58 PM Christina said...
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Did you know that China spends 9% of its GDP on environmental projects to curb pollution?
And that, per capita, China gives off WAY LESS carbon dioxide than the US. (1.6 billion compared to 300 million, yet we give off more!)
It's really a shame that our country, as strong and advanced as it is, gives off 20+% of the world's pollution and spends only <0.25% of its GDP on protecting the environment.
In my time spent in China and South Korea, I noticed people there don't use dryers for clothes, don't leave air conditioning on constantly, separate their own trash for recycling, and ACTUALLY care about conserving their environment. AND their government does its best to make this as convenient and cost efficient as possible! - At September 6, 2008 at 5:52 PM Andrew M. Scott said...
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And in agreement of their efforts, they are more efficient than we are.
The really concern is the gas usage. Minimum wage is picking up in China and more people can afford to use cars. And since their population is beyond ours that's where China's emissions come in to play.
Which is where both the US and China find themselves in the same basket. We both have a gas guzzling problem, and we both need to work together to find more bio-friendly alternatives.
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