Former Vice President Al Gore made a speech in Washington last week that laid it on the line for what is left of American spirit and enterprise.

He called for America to change itself away from the current system within 10 years to obtain 100 percent of its electricity from cheap, clean, renewable energy sources.

He pointed out accurately that America is now borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Middle East to consume in ways that are destroying the planet we live on. Anticipating the predictable counterargument that America could not possibly transform itself that quickly in the face of such a difficult problem, he pointed out -- also accurately -- that America had responded to President John F. Kennedy's challenge in 1961 to put a man on the moon in 10 years by doing so in eight years.

So, says Mr. Gore, don't talk as President Bush does about doing something by 2050. Mr. Gore stated flatly that the survival of the United States as we know it is at risk if we do not end rapidly our reliance on carbon-based fuel. He says it all has to change by 2018. He doesn't argue for that year as some sort of a magic talisman. He argues, quite realistically, that Americans' attention span is short. Targets 42 years off mean little or nothing to us.

Mr. Gore's proposal, his challenge, is not crazy at all. In his speech he cited technologies -- solar, wind, geothermal -- that are already in use and in the process of development. He did not speak of nuclear power, no doubt aware of the visceral, negative, albeit unrealistic reaction of many Americans to that source of energy.

He didn't add on many new ideas, in fact. He spoke of the threat of destabilization by "climate refugees," driven from their homes by global warming. He talked about a need for America to develop a Unified National Grid to enable it to move electrical power efficiently from one part of the country to another. He spoke of -- but did not harp on -- high gas prices and the positive effects on employment of the economics of the shift from carbon-based to clean, renewable energy.

He also spoke of the certain resistance by "special interests" -- the oil companies, oil-producing countries and politicians whose campaigns are financed by those special interests.

Mr. Gore's challenge, as we see it, is entirely on the mark for America and its future. It is also, as he sees it, possible to achieve.