Science is back: President Barack Obama delivers his inaugural address after being sworn in as 44th U.S. president at the Capitol in Washington DC.
Credit: AFP
WASHINGTON DC: The United States will "roll back the spectre of a warming planet" and "restore science to its rightful place," President Barack Obama pledged today in his inaugural address.
"With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the spectre of a warming planet," Obama said, vowing to pioneer a green revolution in renewable energy.
Obama's remarks marked a stark departure from the stance of his predecessor, George W. Bush, whose rejection of the landmark 2001 Kyoto Protocol almost destroyed multilateral efforts to control global warming.
Stark departure
It was only after a firestorm of criticism for holding up the deal that the Bush team signed the "Bali Roadmap" last December during a U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting that set a two-year deadline for a global agreement.
"We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost," Obama said.
"We will harness the Sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do."
Obama has called for an effort to overhaul U.S. energy policy on the scale of the Apollo project that first landed a man on the Moon.
Unleashing 150 billion dollars
His plan includes unleashing 150 billion dollars over 10 years to create five million new "green" jobs, an 80-per cent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and ensuring that 10 per cent of U.S. energy consumed comes from renewable sources by 2012 and 25 per cent by 2025.
The first concrete measures aimed at dealing with climate change should emerge soon in Obama's 825-billion-dollar economic stimulus package, said Michael Levi of the Council on Foreign Relations.
"There is no question in my mind that there will be measures from the stimulus bill aimed at among other things cutting emissions," Levi said. "The stimulus package will have spending aimed at expanding renewable energy production, at improving energy efficiency in buildings and at reforming the electric power grid."
Science ?
Science? So what! Virtually everything the government funds is "Science." Except of course welfare, bailing out banks from the mess the government forced them into, and ... well I digress. Medical science? Do that, bfd. Alternative energy? Rabbithole. The only question is will the government drive energy prices, like they did with housing prices, into the stratosphere before they further bankrupt us by spending 100's of billions on the boondoggle of 'alternative energy.'
Cars are evil, SUV's are evil, oil companies are evil, they cause global warming, hey let's spend 100's and 100's of billions on .... ROADS! err I mean infrastructure.