One of the problems with having only a hammer for a tool is that everything looks like a nail.

The premise that the environmental movement operates on is that anything useful done for the environment must by definition be forced on humanity by a powerful central authority. While there are certainly some cases where this is true (preventing someone from dumping poisons into a river, for example), I have never seen one, single solution proposed by such groups that did not fall into that category.

This is why, I suppose, socialists and leftists gravitate so eagerly to the environmental movement. Mother Earth has smoothly replaced the oppressed worker as the Cause that requires strong political solutions, with the added advantage that Mother Earth, unlike oppressed workers, won't put you up against the wall when they get tired of your benevolent leadership.

The vast majority of "the creative, scientific and engineering genius of the US and other countries" is located in the private sector, providing solutions every day to make our lives better. All else being equal, people will buy efficient systems that use less fuel and power, and are doing so every day. As just one example, hybrid autos are selling far faster than they can make them. Production is being ramped up as I write this.

The assumption that the private sector exists only to exploit and destroy is another socialist leftover from years ago that needs to be reexamined and discarded. I've worked in the private sector my entire life, in several industries, and never once worked in an environment where the goal was not to provide the best value for the customer. If we didn't, somebody else would.

Not everything in the world can be fixed by passing a law, and I wish we could get past this. "Political will" is not the answer to everything.