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Ever since Al Gore scared the bejabbers out of everyone with his slide-show-turned- blockbuster "An Inconvenient Truth," it seems everyone is jumping on the carbon-cutting bandwagon.

Leaders across the country and political spectrum are pushing ideas from a tax based on the amount of carbon one emits into the environment, to the myriad proposals currently before the New Mexico Legislature to encourage, cajole or otherwise tantalize consumers and utilities to change their earth-warming ways.

The governor and Legislature have figured out that we need some real alternatives to our dependency on carbon-based fuels. The business-savvy realists are starting to make the case, quite effectively, that he who leads the transition from a fossil-fuel-dependent economy to one based on renewables such as solar, wind, biomass, etc., will lead the new economy. No more is this tree-huggers versus Wall Street.

Problem is, New Mexicans, like most other humans, are kind of fond of our carbon - almost as much as our chile. Even the greener ones among us cling to our cars and refrigerated air, even if it may mean that somewhere a polar bear may be clinging to a shrinking iceberg because of our excesses.

For a state with our solar, wind and biomass potential, we consume most - almost 90 percent - of our energy from fossil fuels. The difficulty, of course, is that we are also a state that funds most of our state budget from oil and gas revenues.

If you ever wonder why even the most environmentally conscious New Mexico politico seldom beats up on oil and gas, it's because they are the geese that lay the golden - or should we say carbon - eggs.

Add to that the fact that most of the energy to heat and power our homes and offices comes from coal-fired electricity plants, and one can see why kicking carbon may be tougher than it sounds.

Despite our carbon culture, there are many good proposals before the Legislature that would make a dent in our fossil-fuel consumption. The Land, Wildlife and Clean Energy Act would set aside a piece of state oil and gas revenues for investment in land and wildlife conservation and clean energy projects. Another proposal would establish a renewable energy transmission authority, which would allow the state to construct the infrastructure needed to allow for more renewable-energy production and sales inside and outside the state. Finally, among many others, there are proposals to increase the amount of electricity large utilities and electric cooperative must provide, using renewable sources.

The renewable energy frenzy is not the only, and maybe not even the best, way to fight the carbon war. Groups such as the Sierra Club and the Public Interest Research Group, along with many credible scientists, argue that despite the many innovations in renewable technologies, the cheapest and quickest way we can put the brakes on global warming is to make our cars, homes and offices more efficient and less wasteful of energy.

At the close of the session in a few short weeks we'll all know just how far our leaders, and those of us they represent, are willing to go in kissing our carbon dependency good-bye.

Griego, a former City Council member, is an Albuquerque columnist.