Wednesday, July 1, 2009

The First Step is the Hardest


By Billy Parish

The House recently passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), an important step toward protecting our environment and building a clean energy economy.

ACES has generated a lot of strong opinions, for and against, especially in the environmental community. Now I'm not a scientist or a policy wonk, but I did help start and run the Energy Action Coalition, the largest youth clean energy organization in the country, and following the debate over the 1,200-page proposal has been confusing, even for me.

Al Gore calls the proposal, "one of the most important pieces of legislation ever introduced in Congress." Yet, NASA's top climate scientist, James Hansen, says "I hope cap and trade doesn't pass, because we need a much more effective approach."

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