Reports out of Detroit today tell us that the auto makers are featuring electric and hybrid cars at the annual new models show. Even the Chinese have rolled out their version. It is enough to make an oil tycoon get indigestion. Another report in today's Wall Street Journal informs us that the part of President Elect Obama's economic recovery plan that focuses on job creation is going to focus on environmental and alternative energy innovation. Well, we'll see...
I do think, however, that we are turning a corner. I'm beginning to believe that the human race is making one of those major adjustments it makes every once in a while when it realizes that what it has been doing is counter productive and perilous to civilization. Much the same as happened when sovereign monarchies gave way to democracies in the West. Or, when an economy based on slave labor gave way to freedom and worker's rights movements. Or, when women were given the right to vote. Or, when smoking lost its status as an accepted social practice. When was the last time you saw a cigarette vending machine? They used to be everywhere, as were ashtrays. I think we are witnessing the final days of polluting fossil fuels as the primary energy source.
Obviously, this will not be a process that is completed overnight, but it is underway and gaining momentum. Any progress we can make toward cleaner energy sources that do not spew carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulphuric acid and etc., into the environment has to be a good thing. Conservatives, traditionalists and naysayers will do what they always do, oppose change. Politicians and profiteers will do what they always do to muck things up. But I believe that Providence is right now dragging us kicking and screaming toward this very necessary change that will prove to be good for everyone.
Pretty soon the air will be clear enough that we'll be able to see it happening.
