The Real New Deal: Energy Scarcity and the Path to Energy, Economic, and Environmental Recovery, a proposal to the incoming Obama Administration, was been published, according to a statement from the Post Carbon Institute.
The strategy argues for a significant shift in policy and investment toward a fossil fuel-free economy as a response to the present financial crisis. The “Real New Deal” calls for a number of bold actions to electrify the transportation system, rebuild the electricity grid, relocalize the food system, and retrofit the nation’s building stock for both energy efficiency and energy production. It does this by noting the urgency to address global fossil fuel depletion and climate change.
Richard Heinberg, a senior fellow of the Post Carbon Institute and a renowned authority on the depletion of fossil fuels who wrote “The Party’s Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies,” is the plan’s primary author. Heinberg stated, “While there are other ‘new deal’ options being proposed to President-elect Obama, our approach acknowledges that dwindling fossil fuel resources and growing greenhouse gas emissions place us at great and immediate peril. The erroneous strategy is to increase road and bridge construction as a job-creating stimulus. To prepare for the end of cheap energy and halt catastrophic climate change, we must immediately reengineer our nation.
“Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Destiny,” written by Bill McKibben, made the observation that “the globe is up against genuine limitations, boundaries that will determine our future.” These two factors alone will alter the planet: we are running out of oil and we are running out of atmosphere. Let’s once again be in the lead.
Michael Moore, an Academy Award-winning director, said, “I heartily support ‘The Real New Deal. At one of the most crucial junctures in our history, the Obama administration has both a huge opportunity and a huge duty to act appropriately.
The Real New Deal, according to Debbie Cook, a former mayor of Huntington Beach, California, and the board president of the Post Carbon Institute, is the only sensible strategy for dealing with the twin problems of fossil fuel depletion and climate change. We don’t have time to squander; we need a methodical, planned effort.
Lester Brown, the creator of the Earth Policy Institute and Worldwatch Institute, David Orr, the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics at Oberlin College, Pat Murphy, and acclaimed author Randy Udall are further supporters of “The Real New Deal” (founder of The Community Solution and author of Plan C).
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