Climate Change Legislation Becoming High Priority

     Although significant climate legislation has been practically nonexistent in recent years, this may be about to change due to the recent oil spill in the Gulf. America’s dependence on oil is certainly not the way to help protect our environment from the perils that exist in twenty-first century society. The country needs to rapidly find new forms of renewable energy to power the nation’s infrastructure, vehicles, and the everyday necessities. As a result of the appalling BP oil spill, climate legislation is finally becoming a top priority in Washington. Senators John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman have partnered to create an energy and climate change bill which President Obama is beginning to gather support for, in hopes of the bill passing the Senate before the end of the year. Other top priorities on the president’s agenda, such as immigration reform, may be delayed in order to focus on passing climate legislation. The House of Representatives already passed some forms of legislation intended to reduce greenhouse-gas pollution in 2009. In addition, the president is proposing reductions in tax breaks to big oil companies, with potential penalties for carbon pollution.

“The time has come, once and for all, for this nation to fully embrace a clean energy future,” said President Obama.

     If there is any one potential “good” result we can take away from the horrific BP oil spill in the Gulf, it’s the fact that the spill has finally made passing stringent climate legislation a top priority. At last there is hope that the United States will make a strong push to help protect the environment, by means of new forms of clean renewable energy. The unfortunate aspect is that politicians and citizens alike tend to get hung up on creating renewable energy simply to rid us of our dependence on foreign oil.

     Politicians continuously explain that we need to reduce our dependence on foreign nations that provide us with the oil that fuels American society, yet my question is… doesn’t anyone care simply because we are destroying our once serene planet? Doesn’t anyone simply feel it’s wrong to keep destroying the earth with our careless lifestyles? The way I see it, the need for renewable energy is not merely to reduce our reliance on foreign nations, but it is to help us save our planet from further destruction that is caused by the burning of fossil fuels. We need to create renewable energy so that our vehicles can be powered by energy that doesn’t pollute our environment. By driving green vehicles such as zero emission cars, we will be able to get around just as we do today in our busy lives, yet without leaving our planet in despair. As a consequence, climate change is not only putting our way of life at risk, but it is also harming and killing off thousands of helpless components of our the planet’s ecosystems, such as essential rainforests and innocent wildlife. So feel free to continue supporting big oil and advocating against climate legislation, but remember, someday when you are living in an incredibly polluted lugubrious city filled with toxic clouds looming over your head, remember there used to be green there… one day… long ago.