Representative Jay Inslee (D-WA), stepped up to the podium, “a Seattle Mariner pinch-hitting for a Boston Red Sock,” when John Kerry was called away on family matters. Inslee was well received, as he described the decarbonization of the United States economy as “the greatest challenge and greatest opportunity since the Internet age.”
“This is a great time to be alive,” said Inslee, referring to the electrification of the fleet as “the birth of a whole new industry.”
Inslee, the author of Apollo’s Fire: Igniting America’s Clean Energy Economy, compared the challenge ahead to President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to put a man on the moon in ten years.
“We have to revolutionize the United States into a clean energy economy,” implored Inslee, as he called for the use of American intellect, innovation, creativity, liberty, and competition to bring forth the change.
Furthering the comparison to the space race, Inslee stated that the United States is in a clean energy race with Germany, Denmark, Spain, and England to provide clean energy technology for the entire world. “We have not gotten out of the gate yet.”
“The car is just one part of the system that is being developed,” continued Inslee, stressing the importance of a carbon cap and trade system to “unleash the development of clean energy.”
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