“Alternative” energies are finally starting to be more than just alternative sources.
Year after year, the solar, wind and electric power industries have grown financially and in popularity. These industries are also becoming some of the top growing jobs in the US.
Yet despite all this, our current government has taken up minimal interest in these new sources of energy. They shut out alternative industries and give huge boons to fossil fuel companies which are already lobbying government officials.
At this point I’m not even going to argue the importance of these industries to our environment, the benefits of these cleaner energies are countless for our world. At this point I am taking up no “partisan” position. I simply wish to point out how silly it is to ignore all these energies, when it has become clear they will be dominant in the energy sector pretty soon.
Of course, there is a question of jobs if, or when, these fossil fuels give way to new sources of energy.
The answer seems simple to me.
Move those without jobs into these new energies, the infrastructure and services of these industries don’t handle themselves. The loss of jobs is the only reasonable rebuttal I can think of to using and mandating use of alternative energy. There is already a pretty large drop off of coal jobs in this country, but if initiatives were made to get those people rehired in a new job, the problem would go away.
ESU has already made small movements towards accepting alternative energies, there are ports on campus to charge electric cars at the parking lot on Market Street across from the Union. But more can be done.
Why not power a building or two with solar? How about some more car chargers? I would not expect a wind farm in the middle of campus, but there are some popping close to Emporia, perhaps the college could look into that.
Build our new residential halls to be sustained, or at least partially sustained, on green energy.
We need to be an example to our leaders that we mean business with choosing newer, cleaner energies, so that they will get the message and stop investing in energies that won’t be sustainable soon.
