Where's the Enterprising Spirit?

There was a reunion for some of the surviving scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project. I was somewhat surprised that any were still alive, let alone enough to have a reunion. It turns out the reason that so many of these people are still alive is that as many as 5,000 worked on the Manhattan Project. Over the course of just a few short years this combined focused effort of led to one of the greatest (albeit frightening) scientific breakthroughs in history.

The Manhattan Project led to the deaths of thousands of innocents (even if it may have saved more). Today, as the very future of the planet hangs in the balance a similar project could bring us back from the brink of catastrophic warming. Yet, as the realities of global warming become clear to even the most obtuse we are doing nothing to design alternative fuel systems, a greener more fuel efficient engine. Yes, a handful of people at Toyota or GM may be dabbling; even a few people at NASA or in Universities may have some research projects. What the world needs is a Manhattan Project to solve our energy crisis. For the investment of a few billion dollars (about what we spend a month in Iraq, or a fraction of the cost of Katrina) we could develop the technology that allows the human race to go further. Let's hope our government develops the spine to spurn the lobbyist and start the next Manhattan Project--let's call it the Katrina Project. The need now is no less pressing than it was in the 1930s and 1940s.