To Green or Not to Green...

so i was perusing the web for interesting articles about the upcoming election and i came across one by Thomas Friedman that focused on a) the republican ticket's stance on how to solve energy problems facing our country and b) getting young college students to become knowledgeable and vote in the election.

Here is a link to the article.

What i gathered from the article was this:

a) Sarah Palin has supported the drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This is the opposite of trying to limit our dependence on oil to fulfill our energy needs. She is willing to begin drilling for oil in a wildlife refuge before she is willing to develop technology that employs other sources of energy. in addition, if this drilling were to occur, it would be taking more of the current oil industry away from America's shores. arent we currently involved in a war mainly because of our reliance on offshore oil companies? it is hard for me to see how any politician could support an offshore non-green energy program given the current state of our country. can anyone say hello $5.00 gallon of gasoline?

b) Palin doesnt believe that humans are playing any role in the current climate changes we've been experiencing. really Palin? how then do you explain the rising average global temperature or the melting of the polar ice caps, icebergs and snow-capped mountains? ill finish off this point by simply saying that she'd better make a conscious effort to avoid ever bumping into Al Gore or any of the residents who were impacted by Hurricane Katrina, Hurrican Ike, or any of the wildfires, tornadoes and tsunamis that have reeked havoc over the last several years.

c) Senator McCain has evidently avoided voting on all eight attempts to pass a bill extending the vital tax credits and production subsidies to expand America's wind and solar industries. mccain's platform of using drilling to solve our energy crisis seems to be going in the opposite direction of where we need to go. while a few additional offshore drilling programs might serve as a nice bridge between our current oil-dependent energy system and our possible clean power and energy efficient
future, to think that drilling is the solution to our problems is irresponsible and ignorant.

alternative energy is one of the ways america can a) help its faltering economy b) regain some of the power it has lost over the last few decades in terms of scientific discovery and technological advances and c) separate itself from relying so heavily on the actions and events of the Middle East.