Real New Deal for Energy, Economy, Environment

[Linnea]

SEBASTOPOL, CA, January 13, 2009 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- Post Carbon Institute today announced the release of "The Real New Deal: Energy Scarcity and the Path to Energy, Economic, and Environmental Recovery," a proposal to the incoming Obama Administration.

The plan calls for responding to the current economic crisis with a massive policy and investment shift towards a fossil fuel-independent economy. Noting the urgency to address global fossil fuel depletion and climate change, the "Real New Deal" calls for a series of bold measures to electrify the transportation system, rebuild the electricity grid, relocalize the food system, and retrofit the nation's building stock for both energy efficiency and energy production.

The plan's lead author is Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg, author of "The Party's Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies" and an internationally recognized expert on fossil fuel depletion. Heinberg said, "While there are many 'new deal' plans being offered to President-elect Obama, our plan recognizes that declining fossil fuel supplies and rising greenhouse gas emissions put us at tremendous and immediate risk. Building more roads and bridges as a stimulus for jobs is the wrong tactic. We must re-engineer our country now to deal with the end of cheap energy and to stop catastrophic climate change."

Bill McKibben, author of "Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future," remarked, ""The world is up against real limits, limits that will define our future. We're running out of oil and we're running out of atmosphere, and those two alone will change the planet. Let's get ahead of the curve for once."

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore declared, "I strongly endorse 'The Real New Deal.' The Obama administration takes office at one of the most critical moments in our history with a tremendous opportunity and a grave responsibility to take appropriate action."

Debbie Cook, former Mayor of Huntington Beach, California and Post Carbon Institute Board President said, "I endorse 'The Real New Deal' as the only sane way to approach the twin challenges of fossil fuel depletion and climate change. We need a systematic, coordinated effort and we don’t have any time to waste."

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