“Enjoy the holiday season…and rest up, because it’s going to be a very, very busy 2009,” Obama’s lead environment and energy adviser Jason Grumet told a carbon conference in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, according to Ian Talley at the WSJ.
It sends a shiver of excitement down the spine.
Obama promised that if he won the Presidency, he would act on climate change immediately – in his own words, “from the moment I take office”. He added: “The question is not if a renewable energy economy will thrive in the future, it’s where.” He challenged the sceptics who doubt we can halt our carbon-heavy lifestyles in the short term:
When the scientists and engineers told John F. Kennedy that they had no idea how to put a man on the moon, he told them they would find a way. And we found one. I believe we will again.”
In his Op-Ed for the New York Times this week, Al Gore borrows the same image, to powerful effect:
President John F. Kennedy challenged our nation to land a man on the moon within 10 years. Eight years and two months later, Neil Armstrong set foot on the lunar surface.
The average age of the systems engineers cheering on Apollo 11 from the Houston control room that day was 26, which means that their average age when President Kennedy announced the challenge was 18.
This year similarly saw the rise of young Americans, whose enthusiasm electrified Barack Obama’s campaign. There is little doubt that this same group of energized youth will play an essential role in this project to secure our national future, once again turning seemingly impossible goals into inspiring success.”
