In order to make our state, our country, and our planet livable for future generations, we must fundamentally change the way we interact with our environment. The next administration and Congress must pursue a coherent and innovative energy policy that will decrease our greenhouse gas emissions and support alternative forms of energy. The United States should be a world leader in addressing the effects of global climate change, just as we are a world leader in so many other scientific and technological fields.

In designing a comprehensive and uncompromising energy policy, we must seek to provide short-term price relief at the pump, and to take a long-term view in order to actually end our dependence on foreign oil.

Such a policy must include real oversight and regulation of the commodities markets. Rampant speculation and market manipulation has a very significant effect on the price we pay for gas, according to recent studies.

In the long term, we should consider all available options to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. From increasing domestic supply through drilling, to reinvesting our resources into the development of alternative sources of energy, all avenues should be pursued. This problem is too grave to choose a single path that benefits big business at the expense of the average consumer.

We must commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions - scientists say no less than 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. One way to meet these goals is to adopt a fully auctioned cap-and-trade system that would set a limit on greenhouse gas emissions and create a market for tradeable carbon credits. Companies would have to reduce their carbon emissions, or buy credits from those who do.

Addressing climate change is an opportunity to create a green economy and new "green-collar" jobs. We need to aggressively pursue the development of new technologies that will make us better stewards of our environment and that will support new, high-paying jobs - good jobs that will not be shipped overseas.

We have to re-assess our levels of consumption and exercise the foresight to stop using up the resources that are the easiest to exploit in the short term, but the least sustainable in the long term.

Congress should continue to call for increased energy efficiency standards for automobiles, appliances, and new buildings.

We should offer tax credits to consumers and businesses that install more efficient technologies or buy more fuel-efficient or hybrid vehicles.

Public utilities should be required to work toward generating a minimum percentage of their energy from renewable sources, and to become more efficient in their production of energy from traditional sources.

Congress should eliminate the massive tax subsidies to the oil companies that have added to their record profits - these policies have favored the oil companies over producers of all other energy sources and have enabled our dangerous dependence on foreign oil.

And despite skyrocketing oil prices, Saxby Chambliss and the Congressional Republicans stripped the recent energy bill of all tax incentives for the installation and generation of clean energies, such as solar, wind, geothermal, and fuel cells. We must do more to encourage the use of clean energy technology through tax incentives and other initiatives.

With support from Congress, Georgia is well-positioned to be a leader in the production of cellulosic ethanol made from agricultural waste products, like tree bark. This kind of biofuel will provide an alternative to oil that neither increases food prices nor encourages the conversion of existing wilderness and open space into working cropland.

Urban sprawl and poorly planned development contribute greatly to our energy use and our dependence on foreign oil. Zoning and growth management are largely local issues, but Congress should do more to support transportation infrastructure, like Atlanta's proposed Beltline, that permits communities to grow in a sustainable fashion and that gives more choices to commuters in order to decrease congestion.

And because water is a shared resource across communities and states, it is imperative that as development occurs, communities consider and address the impact on neighboring communities, especially when a community's water supply and quality are at risk. The federal government should provide proper oversight of releases of water and enforce environmental standards that protect shared river basins.

In addition, Congress must provide dedicated funding so that states can prepare comprehensive water plans. In the end, Georgia has to do its own part in developing a comprehensive water plan that more effectively manages the state's resources and reduces statewide water consumption. We must not engage in short-term and zero-sum strategies that will negatively impact Georgians outside of Atlanta as well as our neighbors in adjoining states.