The Story
Voting for the Environment
The most important thing you can do on November 4th is to vote. The second most important thing you can do on November 4th is to vote for the candidates who support reasonable energy policies that take into account that America is still going to be around in 20 years.
Between now and the election it is up to you to ensure that the candidates give you all the information you need to make this decision.
The issue of energy has been a major topic throughout the campaign, but it is important that we continue to force politicians to discuss energy issues. As this discussion moves forward, we must work to focus the debate on real rather than political solutions designed to promote the electoral success rather than policy success.
Lifting the ban on offshore drilling has become such a political issue. In response to rising gas prices, leaders in Washington--Democrats and Republicans alike--have bowed to the election year temptations and gone for the easy out with a knee-jerk â€"drill, drill†message.
Drilling is a political solution because the only short term or even medium term gains from it come in the form of poll numbers. Under a current measure that will likely emerge from Congress before the members adjourn for the election, the long-standing ban on offshore drilling will be lifted.
But it would be naïve to expect anything meaningful to actually happen, at least for a while. This is because of a slow and convoluted series of steps that will take the oil companies years to navigate, meaning that it will be years before oil exploration even begins.
America’s real problem is that we have become overly dependent on expensive and dirty fuels. Even if it yields results years from now, drilling for oil is never going to solve this, meaning that we need to show our politicians that they should shift our focus to energy policies that will deal with the issues at hand, like saving us from our dependence on oil, both foreign and domestic.
I am aware that it would be unreasonable to say that we will be able to stop using oil anytime soon, but what we can do is ensure that bumps in oil prices will not put working families in even more dire economic situations and that we do not put a solution to the problem of climate change out or reach before the next generation of leaders gets a chance to work on it.
We need leaders who will increase fuel efficiency mandates for vehicles, who will invest in technologies that will allow American manufactures to create highly efficient hybrid and electric cars and who will invest in alternative fuels in such a way that we can move away from oil without jeopardize our food supplies.
At the same time, we also need to work to create an infrastructure that will allow the creation of clean and sustainable energy from wind and solar power sources. In taking these steps, our leaders would not only be improving the environment but also would be improving the American economy by keeping our money at home and creating thousands of new jobs for American workers.
Be a well informed voter this and every year, because our democratic system relies on it. Look at the candidates’ positions on all of the issues, but do not forget to give energy policy the special attention it deserves.
While this is fairly easy to do for Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, remember that Virginia has 11 House seats and a Senate seat up for election this year. These races are as important, if not more important, to the future of our energy policy, making it even more essential that you vote this year.
If you are not registered, do so as soon as possible. The registration deadline is October 6th in Virginia, so get to the Voter Registrar’s office as soon as possible or get in touch with one of the many groups on campus registering voters.
A perfect way to do this is at the PowerVote concert on October 4th at 5:00 p.m. in the Crim Dell Meadow. Once you get registered, all you have to do is vote.
If you are going to be at school on Election Day, you can get an absentee ballot application here and simply vote by mail.
Ben Schultz is opinions writer for The DSJ. His views do not necessarily represent those of the entire staff.