A New Apollo Project
By Bracken Hendricks
In 1962, President Kennedy challenged the nation to put a man on
the moon and return him safely home again within the decade. America’s
attention was riveted on the space race – our security, technological
leadership, and economic future were at stake. By rallying public
will and marshalling new resources, in eight short years Neil Armstrong
placed the first human footprint on the surface of the moon. Back
on earth, the reward was more tangible: an explosion of industrial
innovation, a proliferation of technology, and a renewed sense of
hope and national unity.
Today, our challenges are perhaps even more pressing than the missile
gap of old. Our domestic economy is frayed with nearly 3 million
jobs lost since January 2001, devastating the manufacturing sector.
Our security is in jeopardy from imported oil, which ties our economy
to the shifting sands of the Middle East and siphons money from
communities. And, our global environment suffers under the strain
of pollution that has been the price of our prosperity.
It’s time again to come together as a nation and do what America
does best, reinventing our economy through technological innovation
to serve the needs of a world that is hungry for clean energy solutions.
A green car industry can provide American made high performance
vehicles to global markets, protect our air and water, and restore
high skill jobs to our communities.
There is no shortage of existing technology. Instead, we lack visionary
leadership backed by political will. America must invest to retool
assembly lines and retrain workers. We need strong consumer incentives
to build demand so that producers have confidence to enter this
emerging market. And we need fair and well crafted standards to
ensure that technology transitions lead to real job creation and
real environmental improvement.
It’s time for a new Apollo Project. This effort must be bold,
committing real resources to meet the challenge. It must be broad
based, bringing efficient hybrid cars to market, expanding infrastructure
for mass transit, and increasing use of alternative fuels so consumers
are offered real choices. A new Apollo Project must deploy clean
renewable energy across the entire economy, like solar, wind, and
biomass, and it must support basic research so American industry
can lead the way in the search for long term solutions like clean
hydrogen. And, this effort must be immediate, not putting all our
faith in the silver bullet of a hydrogen “freedom car”
30 to 50 years down the road.
There are many solutions at hand, but our leaders need a mandate
to act. It’s up to us to use our power as consumers, citizens,
and members of our communities to make green cars the rule, not
just the exception. The Apollo Alliance – a coalition 17 labor
unions including the United Auto Workers, along with a broad cross
section of the environmental community – has formed to build
grass roots support for a renewed vision of a sustainable economy.
Let’s make green cars a voting issue this year, and ask all
the candidates to compete in the market for smart ideas. Let’s
demand a new Apollo Project for good jobs and energy independence
that protects our environment and positions America once again to
lead in the industries of the future.
In the words of John F. Kennedy, “Our leadership in science
and in industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations
to ourselves as well as others, all require us to make this effort,
to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men.”
We can do it, so let’s get busy.
Bracken Hendricks is Executive Director of the Apollo
Alliance (www.apolloalliance.org).
|
