By Katherine Berezowskyj
Today we want to highlight a recent Huffington Post piece by Carl Pope—yes, the chairman of the Sierra Club. Taking an open and frank dialogue about energy and future development is important, and while we don’t agree with all of his comments, he does open the conversation that “we should be having.”
What we appreciate most is his discussion and analysis of John Hofmeister, the former president of Shell USA. Pope takes stock of Hofmeister’s recent book, Why We Hate the Oil Companies, saying:
“The short-term nature of American politics – not the individual flaws of parties or politicians – is Hofmeister’s villain. He says that we need to operate and decide in what he calls “energy time” – the decade or more that it takes to significantly change the nation’s energy sector—but that politicians can only look forward in “political time”, the two or four years before the next election.”
Pope goes on to say that the long-term vision Hofmeister takes is quite a departure from his oil industry background:
“For one thing, he takes mass transit and urban planning profoundly seriously, ‘Real conversation starts with the manner in which we develop and use land, water and air resources in the world around us… the unconstrained geographic growth of communities that became a way of life in the twentieth-century America has got to change.’”
While Pope is not convinced by Hofmeister’s entire argument, he concedes that “some degree of greater planning is clearly desirable – so however much I may disagree with Hofmeister, I though it was very helpful to have to engage with his ideas. That’s the kind of conversation we should be having.” Read the full post here.
We also agree that the conversation on energy should taking place and the need to look at how we are going to meet the nation’s growing demands — to create jobs, energy security with sources that don’t produce carbon emissions. And at AREVA, we are developing the latest generation technologies in nuclear energy and making advancements in renewable sources—both of which meet these demands. Why? Because if we want to have real conversations about our energy future, we need to have the options available first.
Tweet TAGS: Carl Pope, John Hofmeister, Shell USA, Sierra Club, Why We Hate the Oil Companies
Posted in: Environment, Nuclear Energy, Policy, Renewables, Sustainable Development | No Comments»
