by Kevin Numerick

Created on: September 04, 2010   Last Updated: September 05, 2010

Is the U.S. doing enough to stop global warming? The answer is a resounding no. As global leaders, most of the world is looking to the United States to lead on solutions to global warming. Unfortunately, the U.S. has done little to nothing in regards to lowering green house gases (GHG), which is the primary reason the COP 15 climate summit in Copenhagen in 2009 was mostly a failure. There are very good reasons that the United States should act and not just for the good of the environment as one might expect.

Addressing global warming has the potential to boost our economy, creating millions of jobs in the green, clean energy sectors, save American’s money with energy efficiency programs, improve on America’s health by reducing air and water pollution, which has been directly linked to mortality rates, rebuild America’s infrastructure for the 21st century with high speed electric rail and electric vehicles, recharging stations, transitioning the power grid to a smart grid, increase our national security, help lower the national deficit, and of course, protect the environment for future generations to enjoy.

But, why does any of that matter? For the sake our of country’s well-being, every one of those reasons is crucial to our future. Breaking down the sentence we can go into more detail to understand how each step is vital to our nation.

The clean energy sector is the fastest growing sector in the world. If the United States continues to ignore the job potential, which we need badly, we will lose out on the millions of jobs that can be created. Jobs that can’t be outsourced, jobs that will be 100% American. This includes small things such as secretaries at clean energy job companies, electricians, to manufacturing the wind turbines, solar panels, advanced batteries, as well as installation, the rebuilding of the U.S. power grid to a smart grid, electric cars, recharging stations, revamping older buildings to be more energy efficient.

There is enormous potential for economic prosperity in the clean energy sector if the U.S. would take some bold action. It is often said that the most efficient watt is the “nega-watt,” meaning, the watt that isn’t used. The amount of energy that energy efficiency and weatherizing buildings can do to reduce energy consumption is tremendous. It is the easiest and fastest way to reduce green house gases and should be done immediately. Fortunately, president Obama has helped some

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