Our leaders have exhibited the classic signs of addiction -- denial, aggression, avoidance, blaming others -- and as a country we are falling far short of reaching our full potential. America is a country that invented rock and roll, put a man on the moon, and mapped the human genome, yet our stubborn dependence on oil erodes bedrock American values. For the sake of oil, we will go to war, support unstable and undemocratic regimes, destabilize our climate, decimate our forests and parks, threaten the health of our children, weaken our economy and put people out of work.

The President admitted to a national problem, but stopped well short of committing our country to a full recovery program. We already have the technology. What we desperately need now is the courage to act. Our leaders -- government and corporate -- have demonstrated a clear lack of leadership and political will to meet this challenge. It is time for nothing short of a national intervention, and a 12-step program to break America's oil addiction. Here's how it works:

Step one -- Let's admit that we have a problem, and commit deeply and truthfully to a national recovery program to break our oil addiction.
Our country, and the world, deserves better. Transitioning to a clean energy economy will create millions of clean jobs. It will clean our air, protect our water supplies, our forests, and our climate. It will help to build a safer and more secure world for us all. However, breaking our addiction requires humility and an unwavering commitment to change at every level of society. No one gets a free ride anymore, particularly not the world's richest energy companies.

Step two --Separate Oil and State.
Every year, oil companies continue to "invest" millions of dollars in political candidates at every level of the U.S. government. In turn, elected officials dole out more than $20 billion a year in subsidies and tax breaks to prop up fossil fuel projects internationally.

One of the first steps to ending our collective addiction to oil is to reduce the oil industry's influence over public governance, and to eliminate government handouts for dirty oil.

Step three through six -- Jump-start Detroit and redesign American mobility.
The transportation sector accounts for more than two-thirds of all oil consumption in the U.S.

Our passenger train system scrounges for funding in Washington while one out of every seven barrels of oil in the world is consumed on America's highways alone. Led by Ford Motor Company, the American automobile industry is driving in reverse. The average Ford vehicle gets worse gas mileage than the Model T did almost one hundred years ago.

Thomas Friedman is right -- the stability and very existence of the American automotive industry depends upon American automakers building affordable, fuel-efficient cars that all patriotic Americans can support. Pioneering engineers have already built Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) with no help from Detroit or Washington.

Steps seven and eight -- Start a rooftop revolution and green the grid.
California is enacting regulations to build one million homes with rooftop solar power, generating 3000 megawatts of power. Studies show that solar energy supports up to ten times more jobs than dirty fossil fuel energy. A green grid powered by the wind and the sun can recharge car batteries and help us kick our transportation oil habit.

Steps nine and ten-- Wean to Green and Fund the Future.
Simply put, follow the money. Capital investment from the world's largest banks is the fuel in the engine, so to speak, of the oil-based economy. Through their investment decisions, large banks can either help to keep us hooked on oil, or rapidly steer us towards a clean energy future. Multinational private banks must publish full accounting for their contributions to climate change -- and commit to reduce their environmental footprint — or they will continue to be part of the problem, not part of the solution. Some banks, including Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs, are leading the way, proving that it is indeed possible to do well by doing good.

Step eleven -- Adopt a "Low-Carb" Energy Diet -- Any comprehensive strategy to break our oil addiction must include aggressive measures to reduce energy consumption.
A low-carbon energy diet will reduce energy costs and increase competitiveness for American businesses, lower emissions, and produce clean jobs for workers. Efficiency improvements in the last thirty years have doubled the amount of work we get from each barrel of oil. According to the Rocky Mountain Institute, current proven technologies can double oil efficiency again, for less money than would be required to buy the oil we save.

Step twelve -- TAKE ACTION TODAY.
For a country that uses enough oil to fill a football field 2500 ft tall every day, it will take a lot more than a speech and a few research dollars to set us free from oil. Freedom from oil will help our nation to create clean jobs, protect forests, make our foreign policy more just and more effective, and help to stabilize our climate. Let's get to work.