The Clean Energy Economy of the 21st Century

We have two great problems today, which threaten to worsen as the century progresses: too much carbon dioxide, and too few jobs. The carbon dioxide comes from nearly two centuries of burning coal and oil on an increasingly massive scale. So much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere acts as a blanket, retaining an unnatural amount of heat, which in turn produces unnatural climates, unnatural weather.

Vast amounts of carbon dioxide have been absorbed by the oceans, where the CO2 combines with H2O to produce H2CO3, carbonic acid. This acid dissolves the calcium in corals, in the shells of young oysters, in the exoskeletons of shrimp, causing reefs to die, oyster populations to collapse, and a major link in the food chain to vanish.

Too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, too much carbon dioxide in the oceans. We all know this. But we keep burning the coal and oil.

People in Scotland know a secret that most people in America have not yet discovered. People in India know a secret that most Americans have not yet discovered. People in Toronto, Canada know a secret that most people in Buffalo, New York have not yet discovered. The designing, manufacturing, and installation of equipment which produces clean energy create a multitude of jobs. One of the few European industries which has continued to grow during the recent years of recession is the clean energy industry: onshore and offshore wind turbines, as well as rooftop solar panels.

People entering this new industry need a 21st century education. The clean energy renaissance galvanizes the school system, creating new fields of study, and equally important, providing students with a compelling purpose for staying in school and getting that degree. When they graduate, not just a job, but a lifelong career is waiting for them, because we are going to need wind turbines and solar panels for at least the next half-century.

We need clean energy engineers; we also need clean energy economists and clean energy attorneys to handle this growing international industry. The wind and the sun will be linking universities together, linking industries together, linking countries together, creating a web of enterprise unprecedented in human history.

This growth in education and jobs will naturally promote greater equality among women and men. Visit a wind turbine trade show: you will be surprised by how young the delegates are, and by how many of them are professional women…from countries around the world.

Unlike the coal and oil industries, the clean energy industry acknowledges from day one that we must work in harmony with Mother Nature. Onshore wind turbines cannot spin where birds are migrating. Offshore wind turbines cannot stand where fish are spawning. By working in harmony with nature, we open ourselves to an entirely new sort of education, one which ultimately provides not only a paycheck, but a healthy Earth on which to live.

Let’s count up the blessings so far. A clean energy economy can bring us a growing number of challenging jobs; schools with vibrant new courses which lead to a career with a purpose; a steady increase in international cooperation; opportunities for women which create equality on a global scale; and a deepening understanding of the natural world which is our home.

These sound like the ingredients of a world in which prosperity for all peoples could flourish.

These sound like the ingredients of a world in which healthy children could flourish.

These sound like the ingredients of a world in which democracy could flourish.

And…these sound like the ingredients of a world in which all of us, together, could build a strong and lasting peace.

But what about all that carbon dioxide? What about the dirty blanket in our atmosphere? What about the acid that poisons our oceans, the cradle of life?

Well, we can always stuff the Oil Boys and put them into a museum. One day, boys and girls on a school field trip can visit the Museum of the Dark Ages, so that they can be glad—very glad—that people finally crawled out of the tar pit and lifted their faces to the wind and the sun.

Let those kids dream of inventing the next Clean Machine. Let them dream of becoming Architects of Peace.