There needs to be an energy race
By Derek Larson
St. Cloud (MN) Times
October 3, 2007
Fifty years ago Thursday, on Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviet Union stunned the world by announcing the launch of the first artificial satellite. Beating the American Vanguard program into orbit by five months, the object known worldwide as Sputnik launched the space race and a technological revolution.
In recent interviews with The Associated Press, Boris Chertok, a 95-year-old veteran scientist who worked closely with Sputnik project director Sergei Korolyov, noted the frantic pace of the effort was also marked by poetic moments. Though a more complex, conically shaped scientific satellite was already being planned by another team, Korolyov had a specific vision for the symbolic first mission. "The Earth is a sphere, and its first satellite also must have a spherical shape," Chertok remembers him insisting.
Even the launch team failed to grasp the importance of its accomplishment when the initial beep was received from space. "At that moment we couldn't fully understand what we had done," Chertok recalled. "We felt ecstatic about it only later, when the entire world ran amok. Only four or five days later did we realize that it was a turning point in the history of civilization."
Though the space race was a product of the Cold War, deeply rooted in militarism and ideological conflict, the technologies and educational advances it produced were instrumental in shaping the second half of the 20th century.
Greater crisis
Today we find ourselves in the midst of another, greater crisis than even the Cold War: Our immense appetite for energy and dependence on fossil fuels are changing the Earth in ways we do not yet fully understand.
What is certain is that our use of fossil fuels is unsustainable. Now that the scientific consensus on climate change has finally been presented as such by the media, the public has begun to realize that addressing the problem need not mean the end of modern civilization, but simply requires us to be smarter about our energy habits. Changing how much energy we use and where we get it are the two keys to a sustainable future.
What America — and consequently the world — needs today is a new space race focused on alternative energy sources and increased energy efficiency. As the world's largest consumer of energy we have a responsibility to lead others toward a sustainable future.
But the levels of commitment, investment and expertise directed toward this critical task has been inadequate. Patchwork quilts of state incentives and inconsistent federal support have left alternative energy projects in a perpetual boom/bust cycle that has stalled research and development. Cheap energy, made possible by misguided government subsidies and a reliance on dirty coal-fired power plants, has made our citizens oblivious to the real costs of their actions.
Urgent matter
If our children are to enjoy a lifestyle anything like ours we must act now, demanding more from our political leaders and taking the lead ourselves when they fail to do so.
By launching an energy initiative on the scale of the space program, the United States could become the world leader in energy innovation. Within a decade we could expand our economy, dramatically cut our carbon emissions, eliminate all oil imports from the Middle East, and begin to swing the balance of trade with Asia back in our favor by selling our new technologies to countries like China.
The space race demonstrated some of the things Americans do best: We can rally behind our leaders, mobilize the world's largest economy toward a common goal, develop innovative technologies and change the future for the better. The opportunity is here again today. What we lack is the vision and leadership to make it happen on the necessary scale.
As Boris Chertok noted, Sputnik marked a turning point for human civilization. We could make another, if only we had the will to face the challenge instead of pretending it didn't exist.
No comments:
Post a Comment