21. America and the Global Energy Challenge
- Author:
- Hal Harvey
- Publication Date:
- 06-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- Energy is at once the lifeblood and the bane of the modern world. Fossil energy has fueled tremendous economic growth over the past 150 years. The economic history of the United States is largely the history of extracting and using coal and oil. At the same time, the profligate use of these energy sources has created the world's most pressing environmental problems, and led to major national security concerns for the United States. Energy consumption is the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions, smog, acid rain, oil spills, and nuclear waste. American dependence on oil from the Middle East forces our hand on foreign policy and imposes high economic and human costs. It is becoming increasingly clear that America's—and the world's—current diet of fossil energy is not sustainable.
- Topic:
- Economics, Environment, Science and Technology, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- United States, America, and Middle East