Other problem is most politicians are not technically savy, they are lawyers not engineers or scientists. Being lawyers they write laws even if they are bad.

$5 per voter is the $5 box on the tax form now, make it mandatory. Public Money for Public office will be the best use of $5 every year for everyone.

Corporations and PACs can continue to advertise as "free speech" they just can not contribute to campaigns. We might actually get Congress representing the voters and tax payers for once.

Good point, everyone.
Since the oil and gas industry has such a powerful influence in the governmennt, why not try to persuade the oil and gas industry to make the gradual switch from energy hunting and gathering (exploration and drilling) to energy farming? The analogy is as in hunting for foods in the primitive tribal days vs farming for foods that can support advance civilizations.

The process of energy farming includes the use of waste biomass and turn this into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon fuels. The fuel yield of waste biomass to liquid fuels can be rougly doubled if H2 is added during the process, or even tripled when methane is synthesized. H2 can be made from solar, wind and nuclear energy. With the declining cost of renewable energy and high cost of petroleum fuel, synthetic renewable hydrocarbon fuels can be cost-competitive with fossil fuels when produced in large scale.

The next question is how to get the oil and gas industry to make a gradual switch to this? The motive is still similar to when human switched from food hunting and gathering to large-scale farming: shortage of foods in nature and the unpredictability of natural food sources. Peak oil, for one thing, and the recent massive oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico to remind of environmental hazards and unpredictable cost of clean up, and the geopolitical difficult of guaranteeing a steady crude oil supply, and the escalation of global warming and climate change will threaten future legislations toward curbing of fossil fuels.

So, the smart leaders in the oil and gas industry will see that by urging the governments to guarantee a gradually-increasing retail prices of fossil fuels, to no more than 5-7% yearly, their investments in renewable-energy synthetic fuels will be safe and profitable, and this will give them enough time to recoup their current investments in drilling and exploration even during the gradual transition toward synthetic renewable hydrocarbon fuels. The public will hardly notice any change in the retail cost of hydrocarbon fuels due to this smooth transition and the cost-competitiveness of synthetic fuels.

With the modern transportation fleet getting more and more fuel efficient, there will be enough synthetic hydrocarbon fuel potential to satisfy all future demands without requiring fossil fuels.

Perhaps the Saudi are getting a glimpse of this as they are investing heavily into solar energy. In this way, the world's future oil and gas reserves will be unlimited!

>>>"The answer is shale oil, tar sands and fracking."

This may be the answer for the present, because we have not produced enough of renewable-energy fuels to replace fossil fuels, even after 2 decades of warning from Al Gore. This may not be the answer for our energy situation in the next few decades, as global warming is raging on, with more heat, drought, storms, and crop failures. Low-cost petroleum sources will run dry in the next decade or two, making investments in renewable synthetic fuels a good business decision. NG is plentiful in the US at the moment, but it is not so in Europe, China, Japan, and India, where NG is quite expensive and in short supply. In fact, many power plants in India that use NG have shut down due to NG depletion.

This administration is sensible enough to allow all-time-high oil drilling, yet still plan ahead for the future when the oil wells will run dry. In fact, $2B USD was announced by the president for development of petroleum alternatives in the next 10 years.

Indeed, the politicians are dependent upon their energy company masters, so leadership on this issue will have to come from other areas.

I live in a semi rural area, though bike to a commuter bus stop where I board a bus that takes me to within 5 miles from my office, biking the rest of the way in.

There are any number of ways that we can significantly reduce our consumption of petroleum (carpooling, vanpooling, mass transit, cycling, telecommuting, and myriad combinations of these).

@Roger et al

Did you read the article?

The only thing that actually works is driving less. Roger and his family needs cars that get mileage because they drive a lot. It is always the same. A long list of totally ineffective solutions so he does not have to make any changes in his lifestyle.

“I live in a semi rural area ”

There is no place to live walking distance to work? Will S works for the government in DC. This is also the reason those of us who do not work for the government some place in a big city do not listen to the likes of Al Gore.

It is just amazing that all of those people who express concern CAGW never to the person walk the talk.

“plan ahead for the future ”

What plan? Obama does not have a plan. I know what a plant looks like. It takes more than just giving speeches on college campuses to the brainwashed.

“Wind and solar can indeed replace ”

You can model anything you want, that does not make it the least bit practical. Replacing fossil generation of power with nuclear is a practical and effective way to some reduce fossil use.

@Kit P,
Sounds like you are waking up from a nap. When you're fully awake, I hope that you will realize that most members of society will need to maintain a high standard of living so that others will have decent-paying jobs. When you're advocating driving less, you should realize that the jobs of all those involved with petroleum exploration, drilling, refining, arm forces to maintain the oil flow, road construction, traffic regulation, auto manufacturing and auto repairs, etc... will be affected. The chain of effect will trickle down to everyone else in the economy and high unemployment will ensue with social unrest leading to martial laws and gun confistication and eventually to a dictatorship socialistic regime...who knows...!!!

To maintain social stability, democracy, etc... people must have jobs...the youth must have jobs, or else they will join the crime gangs to deal drugs, extortion, kidnapping, smuggling, or joining hate groups, etc.

However, we must maintain our high living standard in a sustainable way. That means renewable energy, recycling of all wastes, and curbtail all industrial pollutions...and all these will create more jobs that will help maintain social stability. All imports from countries having lower pollution standards must be assessed appropriate tarifs in order to level the playing field for countries with higher pollution standards. This the same as in competitive sports with rules and referees, so that no one will have unfair advantages.

Do you want to be a part of the solution? or a part of the problem?

Kit P. seems to think that biking is not as good as walking, though fails to say why he holds that belief, and seems to think biking is the equivalent to driving a car. Yes, he must have just started waking up from a nap...

Kit P. still struggles for relevance...