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Earth Day is a day to appreciate the tremendous beauty
of those small special places. Just as much as it is the
larger planet that we now find ourselves in need to protect.
Earth Day is a reminder to recommit ourselves to finding
the right balance that preserves our environment
just as we live it day by day.
At no time in our history has that balance teetered as
dangerously as it does today.
The mistakes of the past have come back to haunt the present.
Pollutants cover the floors of our rivers and harbors,
our air becomes more and more dangerous to breathe
virtually every day and our addiction to oil has consequences
so far and wide it's become its own category of crisis.
So changing the way America gets and uses energy is
about more than just protecting our environment.
It's also about reviving our economy and strengthening
our national economy and our national security.
We already have the tools at our fingertips to invest in
energy efficiency and to tap into the enormous potential
right in our own backyards. Renewable energy is everywhere you look.
From the bright sun that beats down on Nevada out West
to the wind that blows over the Rockies through the Great Plains
and around the Great Lakes. From the water that powers
electricity in the Northwest, and off our coast, to the bio mass
that grows in the Southeast. No, the challenge is not feasibility,
its rather political will do to what is right before it's too late.
That's why the very first act this new Senate passed this year
was one of the most important conservation bills in more than a generation.
Protecting more than two million acres of wilderness,
one of the thousand miles of wild and scenic rivers, and
thousands of miles of trails for future generations to enjoy forever.
That's why it's both in the Economic Recovery Plan and
in the budget that the Senate has passed already that we insist on
cleaning investments that will lead to new and green jobs that
can never be outsourced. It's why I've written a bill to deliver
clean energy from the remote areas where it's developed to
the major population centers around the country where it's needed the most.
And it's why this year we renew our flight for the
national renewable energy standard we will create new industries,
new technologies, new jobs and save consumers money in the process.
We're finding the first shots have a clean energy revolution.
These shots we fired are small but extremely important.
But we must see this fight all the way through, we can no longer
afford to ignore what science tells us about the health of our planet.
The symptoms are serious and require our immediate attention.