The Environment & the
Economy
The United States and the
world are experiencing the worst financial crisis since the
Great Depression. President Obama has prioritized
creating a
clean energy economy and creating five million new
green jobs. The CEED Program combines those two
objectives in a focused program that can dramatically increase
the new administration's chances for achieving those
goals.
The CEED Program presents
a strategy for widespread economic revitalization and job
creation through a systematic approach to developing
community-based renewable energy organizations, related
spin-off companies and coordinated volunteer
efforts.
Our plan can serve as the
template for many such organizations, all of which could be
pursued solely through private investment and entrepreneurial
effort. However, such efforts would be greatly enhanced if the
public sector could work hand in hand with the private sector.
There are a number of significant ways in which governments,
national and local, could contribute to implementing
this plan to every one's benefit.
Challenges
- The planet is in peril,
both environmentally and economically. The resource demands
of explosive global population growth and the extensive use
of fossil fuels have resulted in global warming, climate
change, species eradication, massive deforestation, dead
and dying seas and oceans. The economy is similarly at
risk. Both problems demand immediate and substantial
action.
- The world currently uses
oil to fuel most of its energy demands. Consequently, the
need for oil drives virtually all economies. While oil has
literally fueled unprecedented growth, oil also has created
unprecedented problems for the environment, for economies
worldwide, and for international relations. Today,
renewable energy solutions (wind, solar, wave and
geothermal) can be used to largely replace oil in
stationary power applications such as electricity and
heating, but there is no widely accepted substitute for the
oil used in transportation. Representing about 30% of the
total U.S. energy bill, a substantial portion of which goes
to foreign suppliers, transportation is one of the most
critical problems we need to address.
- Local economies and small
businesses are being drained of their economic life blood
by a combination of factors, not the least of which is the
cost of fuel, which largely leaves local communities and
the country. Furthermore, small business, not large
business, is the true engine that drives job creation both
in the United States and around the world. Therefore, the
nurturing of small business must be a top
priority.
Solution
What is needed is an integrated,
systemic, nationwide economic development plan that solves
environmental problems, that addresses energy/fuel needs at the
local level, revitalizes local economies and creates businesses
with new jobs, jobs that cannot be exported.
That is exactly what the
CEED Program does.
Next - The Key Elements of the
CEED Program
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