Here is an excerpt from a letter in the New Yorker this week from Steve Nelson of Washington, Mass.
He reminds us of what Jimmy Carter did for the environment, and what Ronald Reagan dismantled.
"To reduce our dependence on imported oil, in 1977 a national goal was set (with bipartisan support) to derive twenty percent of our energy from renewable resources and conservation by the year 2000. Toward that end the Solar Energy Research Institute was established, in Colorado, along with four regional centers to help foster the commercialization and adoption of alternate energy technologies and practices. When Ronald Reagan took office, he slashed the institute's budget, ordered the four centers shut (on Christmas Eve), allowed tax incentives for renewables to lapse, and, for good measure, removed the solar panels that Carter had installed on the roof of the White House."