Former Vice President Al Gore set a goal yesterday to switch from coal and other harmful energy sources to alternative fuels by the year 2018. He believes this would solve the energy crisis that we face today, as well as eliminates the problem of global warming and our economic downturn.

“The answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels,” Gore told a packed auditorium in Washington’s historic Constitution Hall. “When you connect the dots, it turns out that the real solutions to the climate crisis are the very same measures needed to renew our economy and escape the trap of ever-rising energy prices.”

Presidential candidates John McCain and Barrack Obama, as well as Bob Barr, a former Republican Congressman who is the presidential nominee for the Libertarian party, also agree with Gore in his stance on America’s dependency on foreign and fossil fuels. They all agree that in order to make these changes, “political leaders must move beyond partisan divisions.”

To read more about Gore’s plan in making these energy changes, click here. I feel like this is an important step in solving our biggest issues–by investing in the technology that could reduce our dependence on fossil fuels as well as funding clean fuel or fuel saving technologies that will let us do our part individually in saving the planet and improving the wealth of the nation.