A Matter of Proportion

The gains that the stimulus pain make for the consideration of the environment's future are rather difficult to define so close after its passage. Certainly that money has been allocated for tax credits for greening the economy is a wonderful sign that even at the highest levels the crisis of climate change is one that cannot be denied. Obama had continually mentioned as part of his platform a drive to reinvigorate the power grid and to open up opportunity to innovate in the use of renewable energies. The focus it seems of Obama's plan is a sort of opening-up to the adoption of further renewable energy. So looking optimistically, we can see that the government is starting to embrace the fact that renewables are the future. Thinking critically, we see that there is still a lot of money used to continue clean coal technology. Why is this is significant? Well, many might think that clean coal being a myth is the real issue. That wasting that money is the folly. Frankly, though, it is the motive of supporting clean coal that is most bothersome. Politicians, it seems, are still beholden to powerful special interests, and there are few stronger special interests than oil and coal. Thus, rather than looking critically at the science behind clean coal, we are continuing to support it.

Another issue with the plan is simply the magnitude of support for energy and pollution correction versus the myriad of other causes that get much larger amounts. I suppose that that contrast in support coupled with the open-to-but-not-necessarily-pushing-greenness approach with tax credits make me worry about the administration's sense of the immediacy of the problem.