Tom Rand is a Canadian engineer, philosopher, author and venture capitalist who is working hard to convince our leaders that renewable energy is ready for the big time. He says this about the current situation:
We’ll eventually kick our fossil fuel habit. We have no choice. If peak oil doesn’t dictate the terms and timing, then climate change will force our hand. And recent events in the Gulf of Mexico reveal more immediate dangers.
Yet our response to these threats remains tepid, insufficient by any measure. Serious action is aggressively opposed by those who hold out an irrational hope that business-as-usual might continue. We seem content to let nature decide the terms and conditions on which we kick the habit. Why?
I believe there is an assumption, often implicit, that underpins the North American energy debate: clean, renewable energy is just not up to the job. For the lights to stay on, and factories to hum, we need coal and oil. This assumption is why Stephen Harper talks up the tar sands as Canada’s contribution to North American energy security. This assumption is why Canada plays possum on climate change.
But this assumption is flat-out wrong.
Click here to read the full article in The Mark.
In this video Mr. Rand discusses how we can “Kick the Fossil Fuel Habit”:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92MtzfepgXQ]
For more, check out Rand’s website, kickthefossilfuelhabit.org or join his Facebook group of the same name.