When an American politician talks about making tough decisions, he's referring to screwing someone least able to afford it. When a Portuguese talks about tough decisions, he's talking about significant steps away from fossil fuels:
'Five years ago, the leaders of this sun-scorched, wind-swept nation made a bet: To reduce Portugal’s dependence on imported fossil fuels, they embarked on an array of ambitious renewable energy projects — primarily harnessing the country’s wind and hydropower, but also its sunlight and ocean waves.
'Today, Lisbon’s trendy bars, Porto’s factories and the Algarve’s glamorous resorts are powered substantially by clean energy. Nearly 45 percent of the electricity in Portugal’s grid will come from renewable sources this year, up from 17 percent just five years ago.
'Land-based wind power — this year deemed “potentially competitive” with fossil fuels by the International Energy Agency in Paris — has expanded sevenfold in that time. And Portugal expects in 2011 to become the first country to inaugurate a national network of charging stations for electric cars.
'“I’ve seen all the smiles — you know: It’s a good dream. It can’t compete. It’s too expensive,” said Prime Minister José Sócrates, recalling the way Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, mockingly offered to build him an electric Ferrari. Mr. Sócrates added, “The experience of Portugal shows that it is possible to make these changes in a very short time.”
'...“You cannot imagine the pressure we suffered that first year,” said Manuel Pinho, Portugal’s minister of economy and innovation from 2005 until last year, who largely masterminded the transition, adding, “Politicians must take tough decisions.”
'Still, aggressive national policies to accelerate renewable energy use are succeeding in Portugal and some other countries, according to a recent report by IHS Emerging Energy Research of Cambridge, Mass., a leading energy consulting firm. By 2025, the report projected, Ireland, Denmark and Britain will also get 40 percent or more of their electricity from renewable sources; if power from large-scale hydroelectric dams, an older type of renewable energy, is included, countries like Canada and Brazil join the list.'
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/science/earth/10portugal.html?scp=1&sq=Portugal%20energy&st=cse
They probably don't have as many quants writing credit default swaps in the trillions in Portugal as they do in the States. And they probably pay more taxes. And they're a significantly poorer country than we are, in terms of money if not in polity. And they're doing the right thing.
Y'know, there are days when it's hard for me to be optimistic about this country...
4 comments:
I abandoned optimism long ago for pragmatic realism.
However, to paraphrase Fox Mulder, I still want to believe.
I'm long-term optimistic, but short-term, well, there's a lotta 'splainin' to do...
I'm beginning to think the old expression needs revising.
In the short-term, we're all dead.
Steve: from Keynes, that long term quote. He wanted action taken now, rather than withheld in favor of eventual recovery (an assumption, of course, rather than a fact).
The dominance of short-term thinking in this country doesn't center on action, but on the profits in the next quarterly statement, and on your bonus this year. A reigning acronym is IBGYBG: I'll be gone, you'll be gone; escaped with your obscene profits in real money skimmed from a cesspool of security transactions which, once their basis is recognized as worthless, will collapse.
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