Are Obama’s Environmental Policies Succeeding or Failing?

When everyone is looking for a positive, unwavering direction toward which to point their hopes and dreams, the obvious choice seems to be the new vitality alive and well in our president, Barack Obama. It is, therefore, not surprising when, in the face of all of his recent speeches and towering efforts toward responsible financial reform and a greener America, that citizens of our country question the first family's frequent personal use of an aircraft which costs $69,000 per hour, in fuel alone, to fly. Three vacations within 40 days, one of which the president did not partake in, were taken aboard Airforce One, begging us to question the sincerity of the promises, the strong words, the character, and the policies.

The fact is, the ones who affect the most change in our country are the little people, the consumers. By bending and giving in to what the earth is crying for, we can and will make a cleaner and more ecologically sound tomorrow. Obama has, indeed, placed some extremely important environmental policies into place, and these will help immensely toward the restructuring of not only the economy, but of our place amongst nations. Calling for a reduced dependence on foreign fuel is as large a step as has been taken in decades, and this will help us to regain both financial security and environmental health.

It has proved difficult to move the large corporations toward renewable and sustainable energy methods, mostly because the costs of research, building, and implementation are so devastatingly high. The improvements made to solar powered lights alone over the past three years have cost millions of development dollars, but have also created thousands of jobs and begun producing some of the most promising and affordable results to date. Aside from the automotive aspect of going green, solar power is the renewable energy source gaining the most attention and offering the most promise.

Wind power is another of the most important developing energy sources being spurred on by Obama's green initiative. With billions of dollars being offered to businesses for research funding and green incentives, the progress is picking up at a substantial rate and we are well on our way as a country. As with all things worth doing, positive change will not happen overnight. It will take years to reverse the cycle of irresponsibility and pollution that we have caused, but things are looking up a little more each day.