The Climate Change Bill

The democrats have just proposed a more ambitious climate change bill than what Obama had proposed. The NY Times reports:

The bill would require every region of the country to produce a quarter of its electricity from renewable sources like wind, solar and geothermal by 2025. A number of lawmakers around the country, particularly in the Southeast, call that goal unrealistic because the natural resources and technology to meet it do not yet exist.

To these lawmakers, mostly from the southeast, I say NO S--T SHERLOCK! That is the whole point of this legislation! If we had the resources and technology to have 25% of our electricity come from renewable sources RIGHT NOW, there wouldn't be a problem. But we don't. And we never will unless we set some ambitious goals.

A couple other things that I wish the Democrats would realize about these kinds of proposals:

1. It is a mistake to make this solely about climate change and global warming. There is a percentage of people out there who will never believe in global warming. The seas may rise ten feet and they will find a way not to blame it on their love of SUVs.

What we should be talking about, instead, is that we do not have enough oil left to power the modern industrial world for much longer. We may be past Peak Oil now, or it may not happen for thirty years. I hope that the truth is more toward the latter, because getting off oil while keeping a modern standard of living is going to be the toughest challenge ever faced by modern civilization. We need all of the time we can get to make this transition, and the bill proposed by the Dems is an essential first step.

2. This is a free market solution to the problem! By setting caps and putting in essence a tax on fossil fuel use, we are telling the free market to go out there and come up with alternatives that will make them money. This gives the impetus to the market rather than the government to figure out the renewable energy solutions that are essential.