In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama rejected the small minority of people who deny climate science, adding that even if the science is wrong, “Why would we want to pass up the chance for American businesses to produce and sell the energy of the future?”

Since 2008 wind power in the U.S. has tripled, and since 2010 solar has quadrupled. And clean energy has certainly been a success story here in Minnesota. According to an Environment Minnesota report, solar power capacity per person has increased 42 percent in the last two years. And from making unprecedented investments in clean energy to pushing to extend clean energy tax credits, the president deserves credit for that success.

But of course, we can’t stop now — especially with the climate crisis looming. That’s why we need to continue to push solar forward in the state of Minnesota. Our state leaders need to protect our current pro-solar policies and we need to push our clean-energy goals even further. We should be continually working toward a 100 percent clean-energy future, both here in Minnesota and in the United States overall.

MinnPost welcomes original letters from readers on current topics of general interest. Interested in joining the conversation? Submit your letter to the editor.

The choice of letters for publication is at the discretion of MinnPost editors; they will not be able to respond to individual inquiries about letters.