When did we stop trying?

In 1939 Albert Einstein was asked to right a letter to President Roosevelt stating that the U.S. should look into developing a bigger bomb. Within a few months the Manhattan Project started and in 1945 we had the atomic bomb that ended WWII.

I know a lot of the physics and chemistry involved was already known in the scientific community but the specific purpose of building a bomb was decided in 1939 and completed less than six years later.

Flash forward to the early sixties. May 25, 1961 specifically. "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth." That was President Kennedy's challenge when only 3 weeks before this Alan Shepard spent less than 15 minutes in space.

The entire country got behind the space race. And on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin raised the beautiful American Flag on the moon.

In the early 70's somebody noticed that the lead level, among other pollutans, in the air was increasing. It was discovered that burning leaded gasoline in cars was the culprit. This and other contributing factors led to the passage of the Clean Air Act. In 1973 the EPA set standards for the phaseout of lead from gasoline. Between 1976 and 1980 amount of lead consumed in gasoline dropped 50 percent. And by 1986 lead was phased out completely.

Now we have this problem of Global Warming. We all know what the primary cause is. And we have the technology to decrease and possibly reverse Global Warming. But it seems that we have given up. Laws are made and standards are set that are way too far in the future. Coal fired power plants continue to be built. And we as a society continue to consume and waste too much energy. Instead of saying things are impossible (like 100% renewable energy in 10 years) we, as a society, and the most technologically advance country in the world, should be saying "10 years, why so long?"