Death of American Innovation

What the hell is going on?

A number of bills that will unbuckle years of environmental protections are currently waiting for Senate approval. The two main bills include the TRAIN act, which would require cost considerations to trump health and science concerns for new rules, and the REINS Act, which essentially allows congress to veto all new regulations the executive branch proposes.

The underlying premise for the bills is that environmental regulation curbs job creation, and with the American economy in the toilet, America can't afford to keep a tight belt on regulation.

But why can't America invest in sustainable innovation? Why must we continually rely on the easy, dirty way of doing things to create jobs? Is the only way to create jobs to tap more oil reserves and allow American industries to pollute unbridled?

Congress is lazy and dangerously tethered to the industries that refuse to change their business model to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly model. Therefore, America is missing an incredible opportunity to lead the world in sustainability innovation.

The opportunity is now. America needs to stop relying on an outdated economic model that relentlessly depletes the world's resources and that pollutes the air we breath and the water we drink. Instead of looking back America needs to look forward and develop a model that will sustain us not for decades but centuries to come.

Perhaps the death of Steve Jobs, one of America's greatest innovators, symbolizes the death of American innovation.

It's not a stretch considering the way things are going.