President Obama and Steven Chu

Both President Obama and Steven Chu are in support of not only changing the way issues surrounding energy sustainability are but also in other countries. Currently, the two are actively working on a plan to halt climate change, raise standards for energy efficiency on technology for both transportation and household items, increase utilization of renewable energy sources, protect the environment, and decrease dependency on foreign oil. President Obama described an overview of the general plan in a statement this March:

"So we have a choice to make. We can remain one of the world's leading importers of foreign oil, or we can make the investments that would allow us to become the world's leading exporter of renewable energy. We can let climate change continue to go unchecked, or we can help stop it. We can let the jobs of tomorrow be created abroad, or we can create those jobs right here in America and lay the foundation for lasting prosperity."

-President Obama, March 19, 2009

The Obama federation has already and plans to continue investing billions of dollars in creating jobs to maintain renewable energy at home to help both the economy and the climate. There will also be laws passed to increase the miles per gallon standard for cars and trucks. There has been a movement to get other countries, along with America, to put restrictions on mercury emissions around the world.
Moving the focus to lifestyle, Obama and Chu have also addressed how the way Americans live is affecting the climate. In order to change this, particularly through home living, the government is putting more aggressive regulations on household appliances, such as refrigerators and dishwashers/washing machines, and better building codes for commercial buildings, including government buildings. Looking further into the issue, our foreign policy is going to be more oriented towards energy sustainability than it previously was. First, the two men are looking to decrease importation of oil and increase exportation of renewable resources. This would help our economy as well as international relations. Furthermore, though both men want to decrease the use of fossil fuels, both are in support of harvesting home oil (in Alaska) as well as increasing other sources. This is to increase the use of domestic energy and decrease dependence on other countries. One thing they're going to be doing to increase use of renewable energy resources is harnessing the currents on the continental shelf and using more wind energy to power the surrounding areas. The overall goal with this is to make America energy independent. There will also be caps placed on commercial pollution to decrease carbon emissions. In order to accomplish this, competitiveness regarding such technologies will be promoted. The revenue coming into the government for such would work be returned to citizens struggling from the economy, so that money would be released back into the economy, to improve America's financial strength.