Just thought I'd share this little gem. It's a poster I made in 1978 when I was twelve, apparently for a contest sponsored by our local utility company. This was in the wake of Jimmy Carter's speech of 1977 in which he announced his intent to begin a wave of solar energy, including a goal to "use solar energy in more than two and one-half million houses." Ah, we were so enthusiastically naive back then, believing that this was the road we'd be traveling down - a path toward a future of renewable energy. Carter laid it all out in that speech, which is well worth reading in its entirety. Conservation, reductions in consumption, strategic oil reserves, reduction in dependence on foreign oil. But less than a few years later it was all derailed with the disastrous consequences we're seeing today.
We have a new chance to take a walk down this path toward sustainability. Will our leaders hold the course this time? I hope our own children's posters and dreams have a better chance of coming true.
3 comments:
Every time I realize where we could be, if we had just continued down the path former President Carter had tried to put us on, I get really angry. I was ten when he gave his speech, and thirty-two years later, I'm angry at how far off the path we allowed ourselves to be led. Getting back is so much more difficult - and at this point, going "back" may not even be possible.
Sad, very sad.
Haven't you ever noticed how nature takes over and fills the cracks when we let it? I don't feel pessimistic because I think that people are changing their attitude and that's what it takes, one family at a time making a difference in their own community, and sharing their knowledge with others. It's an effort that I see growing, not dwindling.
Didn't Carter put up solar panels on the White House roof, only have them immediately taken down by Reagan? It'd be nice if Obama could bring those back...
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