Oil Debates

I thought that both Ralph Morgan, British Petroleum's Director of Climate Change Issues, and Matt Petersen, president of Global Green USA, had important and interesting arguments to make regarding climate change. Energy is certainly a focal point not only politically but in regards to important issues today - already, controversies and concerns about energy are beginning to really circulate around the popular public sphere. 

Ralph Morgan made some very interesting and attention grabbing points - that the world demand for energy will increase by 2050; that 1/4 of the world's population has no access for modern energy; that our U.S. energy policy is a decades long failure by depending on others for oil. I liked how Morgan used specific facts and statistics to add significance to his argument, which was that we need to lower our carbon alternatives, look to conventional alternative forms of energy, we need to explore for oil and gas production in our own country, expand our low carbon energy sources and build more, etc. He also supported offshore drilling, which raised a lot of controversial issues - I do agree with him, however, that we need to stop depending so much on foreign countries and instead start taking responsibility for producing our own energy. 

Matt Petersen raised similar issues but in a different way - he used appealing and attractive images/powerpoints, and also threw in some familiar celebrity faces to grab our attention. He pinpointed  three main issues: climate change, weapons of mass destruction, and the lack of clean water; however the argument veered much more towards energy/climate issues rather than WMDs and lack of clean water. Petersen refuted Morgan's argument for offshore drilling, saying that it would take 10 years for it to take place efficiently. He advocated a carbon tax, conserving and sacrificing energy, the importance of starting now and adopting a conservation mentality, and the importance of bold thinking. He basically said that it would take humans to get us out of this; he placed his faith in the human race. 

I felt that both of these men raised important points and I agreed with most of what they said. However, what I was slightly troubled about was that they didn't suggest/propose CLEAR PLANS or COURSES OF ACTION to do the acts that they proposed. For example, what specific steps or courses of action need to be taken in order to develop/endorse alternative energy? In what ways, specifically, can the average person contribute? And in question to offshore drilling ten years, wouldn't it still  be wise to start now - it's better late than never? How do we go about initiating a carbon tax?