The Editor, Sir:

The lower price of oil today must be treated as a respite from high prices rather than a return to cheap oil.

This reality, along with the serious impact that fossil fuel contributes to global warning, should make us conscious of our responsibility to pursue a policy to increase the use of alternative energy.

There is a dire need for an incentive scheme and funding mechanism to encourage an aggressive expansion of the use of solar and wind energies in our energy mix.

Using hot springs

In addition to the above, I would strongly recommend that funding be sourced to explore our geothermal potential. There are several known hot springs around the country, and it may well be worth the while investigating the geothermal capacity of these sources. We need not limit our exploration to these sources, but we could start there.

It is a matter for the experts to determine, but I am throwing out these suggestions hoping that they might be worthy of consideration and successful implementation.

It is unwise to sit around and hope that somebody is going to solve our energy problem for us. We have to use the technology that is available to our advantage to try and reduce our dependence on oil. We have some very bright people, but are we making resources available to them for relevant research?

Let us move from talking to implementation. Our national hero Marcus Garvey admonishes us to "rise up you mighty race you can accomplish what you will".

Barack Obama of the United States accepted the advice of Garvey and, today, he is the president-elect of the most powerful country in the world. Dr Martin Luther King Jr dreamt of this day, and what was once a dream is now reality.

We, too, can accomplish what we will. But it takes thinking, planning and organising to transform our dreams into reality.

Part of that process includes:

Start believing in our capacity to overcome challenges.

Stop looking outward for foreign messiahs to correct our every problem.

Reducing our borrowing for non-productive purposes.

Spending more to increase our productive base.

Recognising that progress and research are inextricably linked.

Recognising that when others solve our problems, we never stop paying for the solution.

Can we do more to change our situation? Yes, we can. It is commitment in our national pledge "To work diligently and creatively, to think generously and honestly, so that Jamaica may, under God, increase in beauty, fellowship and prosperity, and play her part in advancing the welfare of the whole human race".

I am, etc.,

LUCIUS C. WHITE

Kingston 6