@KatieCouric
@katiecouric: Al Gore
November 2, 2009 2:41 PM
Three years since the release of former Vice President Al Gore's Oscar-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," Katie Couric asks Gore if we are moving in the right direction on climate change.





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See all 121 CommentsThe present costs of our oil dependency are huge. We spent $450 billion in 2008 that was added to our huge trade deficit but this does not include the huge military costs associated with securing our long vulnerable oil supply lines. Something on the order of two-thirds of the Pentagon's $650 billion budget (do not forget supplemental bills in Congress sometimes not added to the budget) is directly tied to the Middle East. Remember, if Israel attacks Iran, or some other serious development like a coup de tat in Saudi Arabia happens oil would go to $300 per barrel. We import 70% of our energy from unstable parts of the world. These developments, or other plausible developments, would help destroy America's economy.
The status quo of fossil fuel use must be stopped. We can not afford to keep importing 70% of our fuel from OPEC countries. We need an Apollo to the Moon program or a Manhattan Project to get rid of imported OPEC oil forever. Remember, every single veteran that has suffered burns, an amputated limb, confinement for life in a wheel chair, or who has died or suffers from Brain trauma or PTSD has done so that an American back here can fill up their gas guzzling SUV. Americans should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen. We are better people than this. Now it is time to prove it by eliminating imported OPEC oil forever so we can bring our troops home for good from the Middle East.
Has anyone thought of proving whether or not solar and wind energy alone is sufficient to sustain itself? Is it enough energy to power the foundries that produce the metals for the wind turbine tower infrastructure, the solar cells, the semiconductors in the associated electronics, etc.; sufficient energy to power the chemical factories that produce and recycle the batteries; all the essential ingredients for making it happen and maintain it, because all these things eventually wear out or break down, and need to be replaced? Of course, the more renewable energy sources you have, the more the demand on maintenance.
It would be intersting to see to what degree it can be self-sustaining. Recall that we have so far failed to demonstrate self-sustainability in the closed systems of the Biosphere programs, closed except to the external power from the sun.
Please, let's put this question to Al Gore and his scientists.
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