Love discussing renewable energy options? Who doesn't? I could spend hours chatting over (local, organic) coffee about wind power, hydro dams, and the sustainability of biodiesel or wave power. We all know that renewable energy options are the future of our nation and an integral part of any strategy to combat climate change. But our quest for energy independence and sustainability is not simply an environmental one. The impacts of a full shift to renewable energy production and our eventual energy independence are far-reaching and will be widely beneficial. While we often think about renewable energy as an environmental issue, it also directly affects labor, the economy, and even foreign policy.

Obviously, the primary drive for renewable energy options comes from an environmental stance. Voices calling "junk science" on climate change are becoming fewer and evidence pointing to a global climate crisis continues to amass. Our cars are culprits. Our air conditioners are to blame. Our food, our lawn mowers, our computers, our bottled water; these all add to the problem.

Luckily, domestic renewable energy production is a large part of the solution. Legislation currently in Congress, such as the Sanders-Boxer bill, provides an array of ways to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and clean up the planet. This bill, introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, sets strict emissions standards, renewable energy requirements, and creates a low-carbon trading program, as well as providing federal funding for renewable energy research and production. Essentially, this bill seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions nationwide by 80% by 2050.

This goal may seem ambitious, but in our current political, environmental, and economic atmosphere it is a very necessary aspiration. With widespread unemployment, oil prices at unprecedented highs, and an image in the international community that is dubious, at best, the United States needs to take drastic steps to bring our country and our economic allies into a new era.

Labor Impacts

The Great Depression thrust millions of Americans into unemployment, homelessness, and economic despair. New Deal policies and preparation for war were utilized to provide jobs for the multitudes of jobless citizens in need of relief. We have also seen this strategy employed with the emphasis placed on military strength and independence by Presidents Eisenhower, Reagan, and now Bush.

This notion of a military industrial complex has drawn sharp criticism in all of these administrations, although it could have been much more successful during each administration if our military strength were built using only domestic labor. Job creation would have been a tangible benefit of the military build-up, rather than just baring our teeth in the direction of Communists or terrorists.

We have an opportunity, now, with renewable energy, to create the same type of do-it-for-the-country job market that would allow Americans to earn a living wage through making the United States energy independent. Hoover Dam, created using a New Deal administration, provided new jobs for unemployed workers of many trades. We could replicate this in today's economy by using regulations such as those included in the Sanders-Boxer bill to stimulate this kind of job growth in the private sector.

With unemployment at 4.7% as of October, companies should be utilizing investment in renewable energy production to hire American workers and strengthen our economy through the creation of thousands of new jobs.

In my home of Oregon, Portland General Electric, a private electric utility serving much of the Portland Metropolitan Area, has offered hydro-electric power from Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River for years. PGE is now building on their renewable background with the construction of Biglow Canyon Wind Farm in eastern Oregon. The farm is expected to generate enough energy to power 100,000 homes from a completely renewable source.

Because the former Enron subsidiary is handling the construction, production, and distribution all on their own, they are proving that altruism does exist in the private sector and environmentally responsible corporations can succeed in today's market.

Economic Concerns

Like most products and services in the United States, if we can produce it domestically, our economy will be stronger and more self-sustaining. This is the case made for growing industrial hemp, and is the case for energy as well. Our dependence on foreign oil has caused prices at the pump to skyrocket and creates windfall profits for overseas oil production and multinational oil corporations such as ExxonMobil.

According to a Greenpeace report, ExxonMobil spent $2.1 million in 2006 "funding dozens of prominent climate-denial organizations." The oil industry is fighting the shift away from oil, much as a drug dealer would fight a customer's efforts to rehabilitate.

The American automotive industry has finally begun to change with the times, with General Motors expecting to release innovative alternative fuel cars by next year. American car companies were forced into this paradigm shift by increasing and overwhelming demand for cleaner-burning cars and more sustainable transportation alternatives.

If the oil industry expects to move into the 21st century with the rest of us, it is time for them to accept the realities of climate change and begin investing in renewable energy production. These companies will be dinosaurs left by the wayside if they continue to deny the changing market and allow biodiesel and plug-in electric cars to seize the mainstream when cost-effective mass production allows for the average American to finance a brand new low-carbon automobile.

The only way for oil companies to save their employees and provide a future in the market is to start rapidly pouring funding into renewable research and development. Fortunately, government regulations and an increasingly competitive energy production market will eventually push them in the direction of renewable energy or will pass them by in a flourish of economic and environmental success.

Foreign Implications

As mentioned above, a method of providing employment while increasing America's power on the global stage has been seen in efforts of militarization. This mobilization of state-of-the-art arms has helped make America the world superpower it has become, particularly during the decades of the Cold War in which our arms race with the USSR left us with a military and nuclear arsenal more powerful than any in the world.

Through a variety of international non-proliferation treaties, negotiations, and agencies, nuclear might does not have the same bargaining weight that it once held. Israel has nukes. India has nukes. Pakistan has nukes. A number of other nations are suspected to have successfully tested nuclear weapons. President Bush has called for a new generation of nuclear warheads to replace our dated nuclear arms (Reliable Replacement Warheads). We can no longer use our nuclear status to achieve our goals abroad.

However, a new industry has arisen with more potential for an international economic overhaul than arms ever had. A strong focus on domestic renewable energy production by both lawmakers and private interests will serve a similar purpose that nuclear warheads served twenty years ago: to make us a leader in a global race for new technology. Our reliance on Middle Eastern oil has severely complicated our relationships with many nations, and been a leading factor in our foreign affairs.

Most recently, oil profits for nations such as Venezuela and the Sudan have caused problems for the federal government as it attempts a political and economic balancing act resulting from political concerns in both countries. This consideration could be stricken from our foreign policy if we were able to sustain full energy independence. The way we get there is through domestic renewable energy production, industry efficiency innovations and a concerted campaign to raise end-user awareness and conservation. Oil will soon be a relic from the past, the way whale blubber was at one time. As soon as cheaper, easier alternatives presented themselves, the demand for whale products collapsed.

If we can support a major realignment of our energy production and distribution industries, we can see a prosperity that will make us even more of a leader in the international community. As China and India continue to increase greenhouse gas emissions, the United States can leave record gas prices, Shaq-sized carbon footprints and debilitating smog behind as we step into a new era dedicated to sustainability and a stronger America that can command a strong economy and a cohesive foreign policy.