As Americans, we live very privileged lives.
Approximately, one out of every twenty people in the world lives in the United States.
But we use around a quarter of the worlds natural resources.
And yet, with our relatively small percentage of the world's population, we emit almost twenty five percent of the world's emissions and pollutants.
As such, we bear a disproportionate responsibility to get control over our own emissions as well as helping to lead the rest of the world in reducing their emissions as well.
The main pollutant contributing to global warming is carbon dioxide.
And, in this country, one of the biggest sources of carbon dioxide is coal burning power plants.
Taken together, these plants emit between two and three billion tons of carbon dioxide every year.
The coal industry has offered so called "clean coal" as a solution to this problem.
The theory is that carbon can be captured and stored underground.
The reality, however, is that many think that this so called carbon capture and storage is simply a scam and waiting game that the coal companies are executing to delay having to come up with real solution.
Currently, there are no active, working implementations of this type of clean coal solution.
The next biggest source of energy that we use in this country is oil and gas from fossil fuels.
In the U.
S.
, these are relatively cheap forms of energy, especially when compared to their costs in the rest of the world.
The cost is deceptive, however.
As we have become more and more dependent on these fossil fuels, we have exposed the earth to more carbon dioxide and other pollutants.
As the relationship between fossil fuel use and global warming becomes clearer each year, the imperative to begin to aggressively move away from this form of energy takes on more importance.
Fortunately, progress in other areas are finally beginning to pay off.
Solar shingles are being created for the roofs of homes and buildings that cost a fraction of what they did even ten years ago.
New wind technologies are also beginning to come on line across the country.
And researchers have discovered more and better ways of conserving energy such as energy saving light bulbs, energy saving appliances, and the like.
But all of these things are still far short of what is needed.
Until some major political entity takes the bull by the horn and begins to aggressively push for greener forms of energy, we remain basically in a holding pattern.