In this Newshour video (with transcript), spokesmen from a liberal and conservation think tank debate each other on the feasibility of transitioning to clean, green energy from the current fossil fuel powered economy in light of the Gulf disaster.
"In his address to the nation Tuesday (6/15) night, President Obama urged Americans that "the time to embrace a clean energy future is now."
(The NewsHour's) "Jeffrey Brown sits down with guests Daniel Weiss, senior fellow and director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, and Kenneth Green, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative policy research group, for two starkly different perspectives on the President's goal of clean energy."
"DANIEL WEISS: (The spill) dramatically increases the urgency. For the first time in a long time, energy policy and oil is a watercooler conversation. People are talking about it every day. This is the time to act."
Weiss and Green appear to share no beliefs. Green labels the latest technologies, e.g. electric cars, cellulosic energy, "failed technologies", and points out that there have been other 'clarion calls' to address energy independence such as the oil shocks of the 1970s. As for his own lifestyle, he notes "I got rid of my car five years ago. I live in an apartment. I take the metro into work."
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