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ENERGY 101: WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT
A Rare
Opportunity:
Achieving a sustainable energy future is one of the greatest
challenges facing the United States and the world today. Our current
energy system is destroying the environment, hindering development
and undermining security. From climate change to conflict in the
Middle East, the consequences of the world’s fossil fuel dependence
are increasingly evident.
In the U.S., skyrocketing oil prices, conflict in the Middle East,
and growing concern over global warming have boosted energy to the
top of the political agenda. The result is a rare moment of
opportunity to shape U.S. energy policy. We must use this moment to
build a better energy future.
The U.S. should work in partnership with other nations to:
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Achieve a
global transition away from fossil fuel dependence and towards
diverse, sustainable energy sources
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Provide poor
countries with the clean and safe energy tools they need to lift
themselves out of poverty while maintaining the integrity of
local ecosystems
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Ensure that the
world’s energy resources are not used as political bargaining
tools
As the world’s
largest consumer of energy, and the largest emitter of greenhouse
gases, the U.S. has both a unique power and a real responsibility to
exercise its leadership to achieve these goals.
Why We Can’t Go
It Alone:
Policymakers on both sides of the aisle have been promoting energy
independence as the solution to all our energy ills. Global warming,
conflict in the Middle East, a crippled foreign policy, and rising
oil prices – all will be healed by turning to domestic sources of
energy from coal to corn to the untapped oil reserves in the Alaska
National Wildlife Refuge.
Unfortunately, it’s
not that simple. The U.S. is part of a global energy system, in
which the energy policies and activities of each nation affect all
nations. If the U.S. stopped importing oil tomorrow, we would still
face a host of problems as a result of the rest of the world’s
continued dependence on oil and natural gas:
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Climate change
would continue unabated
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A volatile
global oil market would still inflict damage on both the U.S.
and the global economies
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Competition
over energy would play a destructive role in international
relations, contributing to global instability and making the
world less safe
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Other nations’
fossil fuel dependence would undermine the effectiveness of U.S.
foreign policy
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If we are to
overcome the shared energy challenges we face, we must work
together with other nations.
Linked
Challenges, Linked Solutions:
Just as we cannot solve global challenges by isolating ourselves
from other nations, we cannot solve the linked challenges to
environment, development and security posed by our energy choices
without understanding how they are connected.
Poverty and
underdevelopment undermine lead to instability and environmental
degradation. A healthy environment is the key to ending poverty and
achieving sustainable development. Climate change threatens both
development and security as it wreaks havoc on the world's
environment. Only by working to develop comprehensive solutions that
are good for development, good for the environment and good for
security will we build a future in which all the world's citizens
have access to affordable, clean, and sustainable sources of energy.
Updated March 5,
2007
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