The We campaign has a new ad that will start airing Monday during the Olympics and I wanted to bring it here.
There’s been a lot of pressure lately to open up protected areas for oil drilling.
But common sense says drilling is not the answer. Switching is.
Switching to 100% clean, renewable electricity within 10 years.
More, after the fold.
Switching now to clean energy sources will revitalize our economy — we can be global leaders in developing and manufacturing clean energy technologies.
It will enhance our national security — reducing the pressure on our troops to protect oil supplies and avoiding the worst climate impacts in politically unstable regions of the world.
It will make high gasoline prices less of a burden in our daily lives — enabling us to transition to clean plug-in hybrid electric cars.
It will help solve the climate crisis — if we fail to act soon, the consequences for our children will be dire.
Together, We Can Repower America
The We campaign helps Obama, because there are more points of agreement between Obama and Al Gore on this than with McCain. McCain is “drill, drill, drill.” For example, McCain last week:
Speaking to reporters in Pennsylvania, McCain again advocated more oil drilling off the U.S. coast. “Anybody who says that we can achieve energy independence without using and increasing these existing energy resources either doesn’t have the experience to understand the challenge that we face or isn’t giving the American people some straight talk.”
AP, 8/4/08, Obama speaks about energy plan in Lansing
“We’re going to drill here, and we’re going to drill now,” he exhorted the crowd at Sturgis, referring to his latest crusade to expand domestic oil production
Obama knows that “drilling here and drilling now” will not solve the problem.
When Gore made his speech calling for America to produce 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years, Obama spoke up in general support. (Now Obama may not support every detail, but he agrees with the goal and understands we cannot drill our way out of this.)
First Al Gore on July 17:
We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that’s got to change.
But if we grab hold of that common thread and pull it hard, all of these complex problems begin to unravel and we will find that we’re holding the answer to all of them right in our hand.
The answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels.
snip
Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years.
Gore: “end our reliance on carbon-based fuels” and Obama Quotes in Support
That day, Barack Obama said this:
“For decades, Al Gore has challenged the skeptics in Washington on climate change and awakened the conscience of a nation to the urgency of this threat. I strongly agree with Vice President Gore that we cannot drill our way to energy independence, but must fast-track investments in renewable sources of energy like solar power, wind power and advanced biofuels, and those are the investments I will make as President.
“It’s a strategy that will create millions of new jobs that pay well and cannot be outsourced, and one that will leave our children a world that is cleaner and safer.”
Gore: “end our reliance on carbon-based fuels” and Obama Quotes in Support
Last week, Obama reiterated his view that drilling won’t work, even though he also said he was willing to support a compromise of limitted off-shore drilling in order to pass a bill now:
“Like George Bush and Dick Cheney before him, he sees more drilling as the answer to all of our energy problems, and like them, he’s found a receptive audience in the very same oil companies that have blocked our progress for so long. In fact, he raised more than $1 million from big oil just last month.”
snip
“Like all compromises, this one has its drawbacks. It includes a limited amount of new offshore drilling, and while I still don’t believe that’s a particularly meaningful short-term or long-term solution, I am willing to consider it if it’s necessary to actually pass a comprehensive plan,” Obama said.
AP, 8/4/08, Obama speaks about energy plan in Lansing
Here’s my point. When the We campaign runs these ads, and when T. Boone Pickens runs his ads, it helps build support for a new energy policy based on clean and renewable energy. I’m not a big fan of Mr. Pickens, but these ads help.
And Obama’s support for moving away from a carbon based economy helps change the views of people:
This synergy (although sometimes unintended) between Obama, the We campaign, and T. Boone Pickents reinforces a single narrative: We must change and we must move to clean, renewable energy.
Thousands of new companies, millions of new jobs, and billions in revenue generated by solutions to the climate crisis — this is the clean energy economy we can adopt with today’s technologies, resources, know-how, and leadership from our elected officials. Although our reliance on fossil fuels has created global warming, we now have the opportunity and obligation to begin a transformation towards a robust clean energy economy — one that is supported by highly efficient industries, fueled by clean, renewable resources (like wind, solar and geothermal energy), and based on modern infrastructure and smart transportation planning.
We Campaign: Clean Energy Economy
As popular support for these changes builds, given extra urgency by the still high gas prices, it helps Obama, just as Obama helps build popular support. When Obama is president, there will be the support he needs to help create that new energy economy.
So, when you help Obama, you help the We campaign. If you can, please donate to Barack Obama’s campaign. barackobama.com And when you help spread the message of the We campaign, you help Barack Obama:
Share the video with your friends. Help build the movement for real solutions.
Go here to send the video of the new We campaign ad to friends
Spread this video. It helps in so many different ways.
(also on Daily Kos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/… )
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switching.