You Say You Want a (Green) Revolution

[kgrandia]

While the jury is still out on whether President-elect Barack Obama will prove able to usher in meaningful “change” during his time in office, his campaign seems to have sparked a shift in voter sentiment toward clean energy and greater climate change awareness.

An issue that received little attention during the early days of the campaign – energy independence – became, along with “green jobs,” one of the election’s hottest buzzwords in the latter stages.

(It didn’t hurt that the economy started tanking right around the time the presidential debates began.)

I, along with many other jaded members of the eco-commentariat, had initially been skeptical of the candidates’ “green economy” talk, seeing it as little more than a half-hearted effort to tackle climate change without addressing the underlying problem. No amount of lofty rhetoric can circumvent the need for significant emission reductions – an objective that can only be accomplished through a robust carbon tax or cap-and-trade program – and I thought the candidates were doing the American public a disservice by avoiding the issue.

MORE: http://www.desmogblog.com/you-say-you-want-a-green-revolution