In his 2007 State of the Union Address George Bush failed to acknowledge Climate Change and provide a concrete plan to solve the issue. He did suggest twenty-ten, an ambitious plan to cut down America’s oil consumption by 20% in ten years. Steve Bell from the Guardian provides a great cartoon.
As Julian Borger writing in the Guardian says that replacing 75% of middle east oil to the US would constitute only 15% of America’s oil imports.
To achieve his goals, the president wants to rely – once more – on market incentives spurred on by an American spirit of innovation, and avoid government regulation. But that approach has done little to curb greenhouse gases. The White House opposed a bipartisan congressional measure to tighten fuel economy standards four years ago, and the tax system actually encourages the use of huge four-wheel drive SUVs (sports utility vehicles).
Reacting to last night’s speech, Jason Mark, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said: “We could save more than 75% of Middle East oil imports within ten years by increasing the fuel economy of our cars and trucks to 40 miles per gallon. The investments in renewable fuel technologies the president proposed will pay important dividends down the road. But you can’t transform transportation by research alone. We need aggressive policies now to wean ourselves off oil.”
Bush’s plan is concentrated on things which can provide more growth for business and farmers (ethanol production). He has not concentrated on providing mandatory increases on vehicle efficiencies in Cars and trucks in the US which will be a longer term solution to using less resources. Resource efficiency is far more important than substituting alternate fuels in the longer run.
