Charity Pitch: The Clean Energy Innovation program at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Climate change is arguably the greatest threat to our generation's future. It is widely agreed that global warming is directly caused by human action. Much of the damage comes from the burning of fossil fuels that release CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. However, thanks to Big Oil and gas companies, our economy is almost completely reliant on fossil fuels and hydrocarbon-based energy. In order to reduce harmful human impact on the climate, new green methods of energy production must be researched, designed, and implemented on a global scale. This is why I am asking the class to support The Clean Energy Innovation program at ITIF.
ITIF is a progressive US think tank. A think tank is essentially a group that recommends policy, advice, and ideas to politicians or others with a large degree of influence. The Clean Energy Innovation program focuses on clean energy research and development. They then reccomend strategies based off this research to policymakers. Many of the goals of their Clean Energy Innovation program are outlined in a 10 point action plan to congressional law makers.
The 10 summarized steps for a plan of action are as follows:
ITIF is a progressive US think tank. A think tank is essentially a group that recommends policy, advice, and ideas to politicians or others with a large degree of influence. The Clean Energy Innovation program focuses on clean energy research and development. They then reccomend strategies based off this research to policymakers. Many of the goals of their Clean Energy Innovation program are outlined in a 10 point action plan to congressional law makers.
The 10 summarized steps for a plan of action are as follows:
- Allocate an additional $1.6 billion to federal research and development regarding climate change
- Expand existing appropriations to the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E)
- Authorize new carbonless-energy research and development
- Provide loans to innovative organizations with high effectiveness ratings
- Reform federal tax incentives
- Connect national laboratories by removing existing legal red tape
- Modernize the national electricity grid
- Build communication between Department of Defense and clean energy civilian innovators
- Designate 10% of infrastructure funding to innovative clean energy projects
- Designate a portion of the revenue earned from any policy reducing greenhouse gas emissions to innovative climate research
As you can probably tell, this program heavily emphasizes the importance of new innovation. This is incredibly vital to any plan to save the environment. Fixing the damage that has already been done is obviously an imperative step. However, fixing the existing damage is almost pointless if we continue to abuse the methods of energy production that caused the damage in the first place. This has always been a personal grievance of mine. What first interested me in this organization is the intense animosity I feel towards Big Oil and gas companies. Through their nefarious business and political campaigns, these companies sacrifice the delicate balance of our climate for their own personal greed and financial gain. The main reason this system has been able to stay in place is because, through Big Oil's own actions, there are no realistic energy competitors poised to replace fossil fuels. This organization really stood out to me because it attempts to solve the root of the problem rather than the negative effects caused by fossil fuels.
I believe our class should choose to fund the Clean Energy Innovation program at ITIF because it will have the greatest impact on the climate crisis. Small scale environmental clean up efforts are amazing, but they fail to address the larger issue causing the crisis. By donating to a team of experts in the field, we have the highest probability of making a real difference through changes in legislation to promote innovative smart green energy and technology.
-Ryan Marrone
I like this organization and how you presented it. Our climate has been greatly affected by the greed of Big Oil/gas companies and theses companies' reliance on fossil fuels, and the effects have been gradual but significant. I like that it is not a small-scale organization, and I agree that this organization would have the biggest impact on the climate crisis; I think we would be "doing good" well and more effectively compared to that of small-scale organization. However, in assessing non-profit organizations, we must also consider that although their method works in theory, how effective is it in practice if their role is to promote green energy/technology changes in legislation, especially considering the profitable motives of politicians and representatives?
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