Retooling America: "Green" in Ten Years

In the current debate regarding clean and renewable energy versus dirty and war-prone fossil fuel extraction, and the obviously necessary transition from the former to the latter, I have heretofore stood somewhere between the extremes of the "business as usual" approach, and the "100% transition in ten years" approach, largely because I imagined such a radical transition as the latter would cause suffering due to harms done the economy by the means such a radical approach would imply. Perhaps this was intentions of ancestors or "conservative" consciousnesses grasping on to influence in my life, or vestiges of fears having been drilled into my head in recent trialsome times. It has just occurred to me, however, that it has been exactly such radical transitions in the recent history (100 years or so) of this nation's economy that have brought the economy back to "health" after times of hardship.

It was largely due to the radical policies of the "New Deal" that the Great Depression ended . Programs now taken for granted such as Social Security as well as various other radical economic policy shifts, followed by the nation's swift "retooling" to meet the challenges of Nazi and Japanese aggression indeed brought the economic prosperity of this nation very effectively back to better standards of living for the general populace.

Similarly, a radical shift towards an environmentally sound--"Green"--economy might be exactly what is necessary both to ensure the sustainability of our existence on this planet and to spur the economy to a proper and healthy mode of growth to stave off recession. After the New Deal had begun to turn the economy around and to alleviate economic suffering of average folks, the nation-wide mobilization of citizens for the common cause of opposing Nazi oppression and Japanese aggression helped to shift the economy to a level of prosperity comparable to that of the twenties. Similarly, if this nation is spurred to decisive action to make a radical shift towards environmentally sound economy and lifestyles by both discourse (i.e., "media coverage," etc., to encourage individual action), and officially sanctioned and enforced economic and industrial policies (legislation and willful action on the part of industry), then in fact such a radical shift will accomplish both goals of a healthy economy and a healthy relationship with the environment.

Conclusion: It's time to mobilize and act. "Green" within ten years!!!