Sensible and daring, the Apollo Alliance has forged a broad
coalition of labor, business, civil rights, and environmental
leaders endorsing massive change in U.S. energy policy.
Named for Kennedy’s 1960s challenge to the country to put a man
on the moon in less than a decade, the new Apollo Alliance seeks a
similar national commitment. The Apollo Jobs Report, released
Wednesday, January 14, and timed to coincide and contrast with
President Bush’s announcement of a new space program, states: ‘It
is time for a bold initiative — with the vision and the scope of
the original Apollo program — to end America’s dependence on
foreign oil and create millions of good jobs building the
sustainable energy system of the next century.’
The Alliance — with support from 17 of America’s largest labor
unions, the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, the NRDC and others — is
aiming for national support of a ten-year, $300 billion plan of
investing in clean energy and new infrastructure. The Jobs Report
includes a major economic study done by Texas economist, Dr. Ray
Perryman, which shows that the energy savings and Treasury returns
would more than repay the $300 billion investment. Further, the
plan would create 3.3 million high wage jobs, reduce oil
dependence, and raise American leadership in quickly growing
sustainable energy markets.
Apart from the economic returns from such a plan, there are also
environmental and social benefits. Carl Pope, Executive Director of
the Sierra Club, said, ‘An Apollo Project can simultaneously
address the threats of manufacturing job loss, global warming and
our diminishing national energy security.’
A recent Alternet article by Adam Werbach, board member
of the Apollo Alliance, shows the contrast to Bush’s
poorly-conceived space program. As Werbach writes, ‘Bush is hoping
to signal to the American people that he does not lack ‘the vision
thing’ that was frequently cited as a reason his father lost his
second term.’ The Apollo Report stands in stark contrast to Bush’s
Bush’s head-in-the-clouds attempt at vision. As Werbach writes,
‘Bush’s new space folly is the wrong signal to the world, and the
wrong signal to the economy.’
What America needs is a president with the vision to do the
boldly sensible thing. While the Bush’s proposal looks more like
the Apollo project of the 1960s the new Apollo Alliance looks to
the future: building the economy, nurturing the environment, and
seeking sustainability.
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The Apollo
Alliance
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