Gulf Oil Disaster: What Do You Think?

I am not going to reveal my personal feelings with regard to the whole issue of energy policy and what it means to the future of our economy and ecology.  This blog is not the venue for it.  But I do think it would be interesting to use this post as a sort of informal poll of average Americans to see what the prevailing thinking is on this very complex and difficult issue.  Have a look at this photo taken yesterday by a US satellite that shows the still gushing, underwater oil geiser.  Notice how it seems very likely that the oil will be swept out of the Gulf of Mexico by currents that will take the deadly slick around the Florida peninsula and, via the Gulfstream current, throughout the Atlantic.  Then answer the following question in the comments:

“Do you think this disaster – however unfortunate – is part of the price we must pay to continue to pursue our current energy policy which relies predominately on oil and fossil fuels?  –  Or  –  Does this disaster signal that we must immediately discard fossil fuels in favor of developing an entirely new, domestic energy market based on renewable sources like wind and solar – even if it means we must endure a good deal of economic disruption and upheaval in the short term?  In short, do you think it is possible to make this difficult shift in policy before we’ve irreparably harmed the global environment or do you feel that we cannot afford to change our energy policies and must focus instead on making the best of the fossil-fuel driven economic situation?” 

It should be interesting to see how your responses stack up.