Want true energy security? We need to focus on more than just oil imports.

Last week, while speaking at Georgetown University, President Obama made a bold claim that the United States will cut oil imports in ten years by one-third. In his speech, he offered solutions by calling for increased vehicle efficiency requirements and investing in biofuels as an alternative energy source. It is an admirable and welcomed goal, but President Obama’s plan still defines energy security in the narrow scope of being “independent from foreign oil.”

Unfortunately, this has the unintended consequence of focusing the nation’s energy policy debate down the path of finding an “all of the above” energy solution, which heavily depends on domestic oil, natural gas, and increased coal production. Substantial reliance on fossil fuels only benefits the scarcity model where a small fraction of American society profits, rather than celebrating the abundance model of renewable energy where we can all participate. The current policy frame just delays the inevitability of energy insecurity for the rest of us. We need to expand the debate of energy security to a renewable energy policy that welcomes the participation of all communities, especially in communities of color where the energy burden remains heaviest.

Energy security is more than oil imports. Energy security means that energy costs will not force families to choose between food or clothing; it means that residents can breath clean air and drink clean water without fear of pollutants and contamination from our energy sources; and it means that communities are building economic opportunity by investing in clean energy jobs.

Fox Refuses Climate/Security Ad

The "reducing dependence on foreign oil helps security" argument has been made many times, but Fox just refused to air an ad making that claim because it's "too confusing."

Of course, because Fox is always telling its viewers that they need to be anti-climate and tough on national security, it probably would confuse a great deal of them.

In Honor of Earth Day: Burn for Alternative Clean Energy

(Image via Haiku Pundit)

It is time for the Obama Administration to take active steps to preserve the environment.

First, the Administration can start by ratifying the Kyoto protocol and by entering it into force. The Kyoto Protocol came about from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Protocol is an agreement that commits industrialized countries and the European community to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The protocol recognizes that, due to a larger period of industrial activity, developed nations bear the brunt of the responsibility for the emissions. The Protocol advocates a reduction rate of an average of five per cent against 1990 levels over the five-year period of 2008-2012. Although the United States is a 1998 signatory to the protocol, the Bush administration declined to ratify the protocol. Until the protocol is ratified, it has no binding legal force in the United States.