All In One Boat

Elisabeth Rosenthal writes in the NY Times about the worst of all possible outcomes of the economic melt down.

From Italy to China, the threat to jobs, profits and government tax revenues posed by the financial crisis has cast doubt on commitments to cap emissions or phase out polluting factories.

Automakers, especially Detroit’s Big Three, face collapsing sales, threatening their plans to invest heavily in more fuel-efficient cars. And with gas prices now around $2 a gallon in the United States, struggling consumers may be less inclined than they once were to trade in their gas-guzzling models in any case.

Reading the comments in the article from national leaders tells us they do not get it yet. The crisis offers unparalleled opportunity to start afresh, to throw every nickle into climate stabilizing technologies. If Detroit in 1942 could completely remake itself from car production to tank and plane production it is possible to imagine such a remake towards wind turbines, electrical infrastructure, solar panels on every mall in America. Not another gas firing automobile should be made. Communities, especially in the sun-belt should no longer use fossil fuel for light, household electrical or cooking within four years.

Andrew Revkin, also in the Times, refers to Rosenthal’s article and to Joseph Romm’s challenge we posted yesterday to ask readers — how do we move out of TRANCE mode in the face of climate change?