Another way to transition to our better future

We as individuals generally vote in our own self interest.  That is why the rhetoric coming from both campaigns is mostly about "the economy and jobs".

In an ideal world, the economy is vibrant and everyone who wants and/or needs to work has a good job.  But in that ideal world, that vibrant economy does not consume resources in an unsustainable way, does not pollute or degrade our planet, and those jobs provide a positive contribution to our collective economic culture.

In the real world, the candidates must contend with constituents that have and need jobs that do pollute and degrade our planet.  And they need votes.  So, we see them pandering to those interests though we know that they know that those interests are not in the best interest of our nation or planet. 

The example that we have seen recently is the pandering to the "coal states."   Most areas of coal production have few jobs available that are not in the coal industry.  Scaling back on coal would devastate the economy in these areas.  So the candidates give speeches and air ads that support those jobs. 

As in my last blog post, I see this as an opportunity to transition these industries into sustainable energy.  By providing a commitment to a continued transition away from coal production and into sustainable energy production in these areas, coal jobs could be protected in the short term, and workers could be retrained for the jobs of our energy future.