Be Part of the Solution!

We Want to Hear From You!

Write to us at letters@solartoday.org. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

Editor:

We live in curious times.

As the northern polar icecap disappears, some of our human brethren rejoice—a shrink- ing icecap allows them to get at polar oil. Never mind that oil exploration and drilling damages fragile ecosystems and burning oil adds still more carbon dioxide (CO₂) and pollution to the atmosphere.

Mountaintop removal mining has become a major industry that allows easier access to small coal deposits. Never mind that it turns the local landscape into a bleak and sterile moonscape, buries and pollutes local rivers for centuries to come, and adds still more CO₂ and pollution to the atmosphere.

Fracking has created an oil and gas boom by providing access to hard-to-reach deposits. Never mind that it contaminates groundwater, causes local earthquakes, creates nightmarish local traffic, ruins scenery and roads, and adds still more CO₂ and pollution to the atmosphere.

And with tar sands and many other examples, the list can go on and on and on…

Ready for some good news? Solar technologies are affordable and readily available in the marketplace. Most Americans support using solar energy, and that support bridges political divides. Solar and wind energy installations are experiencing explosive growth and are competing successfully with fossil fuel and nuclear energy installations. Even better, solar and other clean energy technologies create new jobs and don’t add more CO₂ and pollution to the atmosphere.

We need to spread this good news far and wide, and you can help!

Send your friends a copy of this issue and encourage them to subscribe to SOLAR TODAY. Become an ASES member. Buy subscriptions and memberships for friends and family. Buy subscriptions for your public library and local school and college libraries. Share your copy of SOLAR TODAY with neighbors, colleagues, elected officials, and teachers.

Get involved. Volunteer to help with the ASES National Solar Tour (nationalsolartour.org). Join an ASES chapter (ases.org/local). No ASES chapter in your area? Start one!

Humanity is clearly at the beginning of the end of the dominance of fossil and nuclear energy sources. The question is no longer whether renewable energy technologies will overtake them—it’s when.

Unlike fossil and nuclear energy sources, the more Americans know about clean energy the better they like it. Help us tell the solar story. Working together, we can accelerate the transition to a clean energy future and reduce the threat of global climate change.

Francis de Winter
ASES Board Vice Chair
fdw@ecotopia.com