The Pickens Plan and 2012 elections

We all are familiar with the old saying that “you shouldn’t talk about religion or politics around a group of people.” For now, I’m going to break tradition a bit, and talk about politics, given the fact we are on the eve of another presidential election.

Specifically, I want to talk about politics as it relates to the Pickens Plan, our energy independence, and our environmental sustainability.

For the past four years, our energy independence and environmental issues have been put on the back burner, given way to a constant debate among both parties on how to best stimulate job creation and grow the economy.

While the best route to reducing unemployment and creating jobs is argued out on the House and Senate floors, basically nothing has gotten done over the past four years, due to the polarization of the Democratic and Republican parties like America has never seen before.

We hear the fluff, the posturing, and the talking points from both parties. Much of this is due to the fact our political system has become a 24/7 election cycle, and the powers that be are more concerned with holding onto power than really helping our country in a healthy, sustainable way.

For this blog, I want to talk about energy specifically. Here is the reality. In 2011, the U.S. imported 4.1 billion barrels of oil, which is up over 70 percent from 2009.

During the election of 2008, both parties focused on reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and in the last three years, it is obvious that nothing has been done.

As long as we engage in geopolitics, and have interests in the never-ending turmoil of the Middle East, our military will be bogged down in endless wars, and we will be propping up some sheik in a white robe and sunglasses, while paying $4 a gallon to fill our boats up.

The insanity lies in fact that the oil industry has such a chokehold on politicians. Want to vent your frustrations on the economy? Direct it towards big oil and the politicians that are their surrogates.

The real tragedy in all of this is the fact we have an answer to our environmental sustainability, or energy needs, our economy, and our national security. That answer is the Pickens Plan.

Notice how I listed our environmental sustainability first. I did this for a reason.

One of the things lacking in all of this year’s political debates and conversations is the environment. This is dangerous and short-sided. The health and sustainability of our environment is the root element of our ability to endure and prosper as a nation and also on a planetary level.

Without clean air, water and basic balance, employment figures and economic indicators mean nothing. Environmental issues should be part of every political discussion. It is the right thing and the responsible thing to do, for our planet, our children, and the other creatures that share the Earth with us.

The Pickens Plan addresses the main challenges we have as a nation.

1. Pickens Plan/environmental issues: Wind, solar and natural gas are the elements of the plan. The natural gas sector of the Pickens Plan can reduce our Co2 emissions over 30 percent, while the wind and solar part of the plan reduces Co2 emissions 100 percent.

Climate Change is real and it is here. All the top NASA, NOAA scientists, and over 170 countries top scientists agree that global warming is the No.1 threat to our planet. Don’t believe the propaganda propped up by big oil that global warming is phony science. The Pickens Plan can and will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

2. Pickens Plan/economy: Adopting the Pickens Plan and its clean-energy initiatives are good economics for the U.S. Wind and solar are becoming, and will continue to become more cost-competitive with fossil fuels. Our current energy policy is pollution-based, which results in their own set of economic strains on our nations with increased medical and cleanup costs.

The Pickens Plan green energy will help preserve and expand our middle-class since they in-source manufacturing jobs here in the U.S. with invention, installation and maintenance.

Our entire dirty-tech sector can be totally transformed in to a clean-tech sector, but Congress has to give Pickens Plan-friendly individuals and businesses the assurance and assistance they need to help us transition to clean, U.S. produced energy. Right now, they give all their assistance to big oil and big polluters, which happen to also be big donors to them.

3. Pickens Plan/National Security: I fished a Wounded Warrior event two years ago here in Missouri. My partner for the day was an Army captain who had been seriously wounded in Iraq, and was on a full medical discharge, with many physical challenges he would carry the rest of his life. During our time on the water, his main bitterness he shared with me laid in the fact that he had made such a sacrifice, and lost so many friends, just in the name of oil in the mind of himself and many of his buddies.

Imagine a world where we had no use for Middle East oil.

A world where we produced all of our energy here in the U.S. with wind, solar, natural gas, hydrogen cells, hempseed oil or other sustainable, green sources.

No more spending a billion dollars of taxpayer money each day fighting endless wars in the Middle East to secure our energy needs. That is not a dream. It is a reality that can be experienced if the United States Congress will go along with President Obama’s confidence in the Pickens Plan, as he expressed last year.

As you watch and participate in the election drama this year, make sure your selection includes a candidate who supports the Pickens Plan. With the Pickens Plan, we can become energy independent, reduce Middle-East tension, and curb global warming.

Get on your local politicians to support the Pickens Plan, and please vote for the candidates who support Boone Pickens and his green initiatives.