interview > romm > romm 3

Romm 3 (0:53)
Topic(s): Environment / Government
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Video Transcript

People sometimes say, "if we put a man on the moon, why can't we stop global warming?" I think the answer is we can stop global warming; we're just not trying. We tried really, really hard to put a man on the moon. I mean, our budgets for clean energy technologies are probably about one-tenth that of what we spent to get on the moon. So, you know, I think it's- the American public knows that we can do whatever we set our minds to. We just haven't started doing it yet.

But one should also say that there is a different challenge between, for instance, building the car of the future and putting a man on the moon, in that putting a man on the moon, price was no object. It was just a matter; we were going to spend the money to do it. Building a car, price is an object. You've got to build a car people can afford. You have to have fueling stations available. So it's a much more practical matter than just putting a man on the moon.