One World, One Chance
by Afton Cissell
Go Green. It's a familiar catch phrase that has caught fire around the world. Al Gore, Hurricane Katrina, and many other names are associated with the new eco-friendly trend; however, what does it really mean to go green? Are we actually reforming and taking action to combat climate change? An Inconvenient Truth has won many awards and gave Al Gore a shared Nobel Peace Prize with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, but the effects are not obvious. The United States still has a growing dependency on foreign oil, gas prices are rising, China is over-taking the U.S. in emissions, recycling is not mandatory, glaciers are melting, ice shelves are breaking, the globe is warming.
From December 3-14, 2007 over 180 nations, nongovernmental organizations, and various experts met at the Bali International Convention Centre in a conference hosted by Indonesia to develop a post-Kyoto Protocol plan to prevent climate change. In accordance with international affairs law, bureaucracy reigned. A four page resolution creating yet another ad hoc group was the result. The UN hails this conference as a big achievement with new "ground-breaking decisions" such as technology transfer and reducing emissions from deforestation. The new ad hoc group is expected to have four sessions in 2008 to create a new international agreement to be implemented in 2012 after the Kyoto Protocol expires.
The Bali Roadmap, as this plan has been dubbed, lists many goals for the ad hoc group such as emissions standards, aid to developing countries, deforestation, and technology sharing. However, an ambitious idea from Palau was never mentioned: solar energy power.
The basic concept is to use satellites to convert sunbeams into microwaves to be used as Earth's energy source. The United States has shown an interest in the idea. The Department of Defense released a 75-page study in October, which concludes space power is a feasible idea. President Tommy Remengesau Jr. of Palau has offered his nation's uninhabited Helen Island for a case study. American Kevin Reed proposed the project at the 58th International Astronautical Congress in Hyderabad, India. An antenna with a 260-foot diameter would take in 1 megawatt of power from a satellite orbiting 300 miles above Earth. That amount of power would provide electricity to 1,000 homes. Reed expects the United States, Switzerland, and Germany to manufacture the ultralight solar panels for the project. He has a projected cost of $800 million and hopes to complete the project by early 2012. The plan was developed to test the safety of solar power before using it in inhabited areas.
Solar energy power is the cleanest and most environmentally safe energy source. It does not have any emissions and does not require extensive mining of materials from Earth. Satellites can be built from lunar materials, so the receiving antennas are the only things that must be made from Earth's resources. Despite the high expense of solar power, it is the most viable source. The sun's energy will last for billions of years making this the cheapest source of power in the long run. Overlooking the economic and environmental benefits, solar energy power still has more to offer. The world could end its dependency on oil, thereby cutting off the most important financial resource to many terrorists. The United States would end its conflicts in hostile regions since oil profits would be eliminated as a motivating factor.
With all of these benefits and pressing needs, why is solar energy power overlooked and unknown? Greed seems to be the pattern answer, but it doesn’t seem satisfactory. Are people simply disinterested and incredulous about the topic? Or are we in denial? Global warming has been discussed for decades, but comprehensive and effective action has not been taken to combat climate change. Many say it is not a true condition. Some claim that Earth goes through cycles and we are simply in a bad climate period. However, the data cannot be ignored. Manmade change is occurring and it is time that we take responsibility for this and find new sources of power such as solar energy to protect the Earth for future generations. We only get once chance.
