Like I said; if you snooze, you lose. (Only I spelled it wrong before.)

We can choose to make ourselves irrelevant and a global pain in the ass if we (and the media moguls) want to. But we do have choices. That's the point I was making with my previous posts in this thread. If we, the little people, know what the choices are, we are more empowered to help make change if we want to. If the US, as a nation, doesn't lead the world with the new technologies, someone else will. And then those people will have the US by the balls rather than the other way around.

Plus, I think it's safe to say that unless they're faced with no other alternative, the majority of people in the US will keep the lifestyle they are currently enjoying. If they are provided with "earth friendly" ways of doing that, they will be much more motivated to make choices that will benefit the planet and all of humankind. Enlightened self interest is the most powerful motivator there is.

If you take a look at the names of the companies in the link for the California Fuel Cell Partnership, you'll see that some pretty major corporations are starting to recognize the money making potential of these new technologies.