Millions of Americans tuned in Tuesday night to watch President Obama deliver his first address from the Oval Office. At the heart of the president’s speech was his diagnosis of the BP oil spill. If the disaster can be thought of as a disease, then treatment of the symptoms are the current efforts to clean up the spill and restore the Gulf Coast. But, like with any disease, the most critical step is to understand the cause and prevent a future outbreak. What began as an update on the oil spill cleanup efforts ended as a push for a clean energy future, led by solar, wind, and energy efficiency.
This oil spill was not merely an accident, but a consequence of “America’s century-long addiction to fossil fuels.” As Obama made clear last night, the larger lesson from the spill has been that “drilling for oil these days entails greater risk” and our nation must transition to a clean energy future. Cause and prevention are inextricably tied – preventing future oil spills require eliminating our dependence on oil. “The tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now,” President Obama declared, “Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission to unleash America’s innovation and seize control of our own destiny.”
Clean technology continues to develop, but much of it is already available. A clean energy future is not, as Obama insisted, “some distant vision for America.” Our nation has already taken “unprecedented action to jumpstart the clean energy industry” with solar panels, wind turbines, and energy efficient windows. Your home pollutes more than two times what your car pollutes. Power your home with clean, solar energy, and you are making a bigger difference than you think. For each home that goes solar, 40% of that home’s pollution is offset. And for every six homes that go solar, 1 clean American job is created.
This is why we’ve created a national cause for 10,000 additional solar roofs in the U.S. in 2010, in addition to the 50,000 new solar roofs projected to be added this year. It’s clear that the time for a clean energy future is not in the future, but the present. We must, as our president urged us last night, “seize the moment….rally together and act as one nation” to make that hope a reality. People all over the country, including solar companies, are uniting behind the 10,000 Solar Roofs Challenge. What more are you waiting for?
Please support a clean energy future by spreading the word and joining the cause today.
