The financial crisis which has roiled markets across the world could doom efforts to convert to clean energy and prevent global warming -- or be resolved by it.

Apparently, it all depends on who you talk to.

Some, like Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations climate secretariat, seem to think the drying up of credit will prevent developed nations from making good on pledges to help developing countries convert to cleaner energy sources.

"You cann't pick an empty pocket," he told The Associated Press in this story, published in the Lexington, Ken. Herald Leader.

More cynically, London's The Guardian newspaper, reported that "Leaders of (European Union) countries plan to use the global financial crisis as an excuse to renege on climate change commitments, according to sources close to energy negotiations in Brussels."

"News of the European political leaders' moves comes as senior business figures and government advisers are urging politicians not to use the current financial crisis to abandon crucial investment in clean energy and efficiency to tackle climate change, cut costs and improve security.

"On Thursday, Lord Browne of Madingley, the former chief executive of BP, warned "none of what's happened — however dramatic or distressing — detracts from what remains our most pressing energy challenge: combating climate change.

"Browne, now president of the Royal Academy of Engineering, called for a big political investment in new energy technology to match the US New Deal that rebuilt economies after the second world war. "What is called for is nothing less than a new generation of political leadership — leadership that transcends the day-to-day tussle of electoral politics and short-term economic cycles," he said.

On the other side of the coin is Cathy Zoi, Chief Executive Officer of the Alliance for Climate Protection, chaired by Al Gore, who knows a thing or two about electrocal politics.

Zoi argues that the next president must make a big move and make it soon.

In this Reuters report, Zoi argued that a focus on clean energy and the new technology required to implement it could create a more solid foundation for the economy and offer a safer investment for capitalists spooked by the credit crunch.

"My very strong belief is that we need to reorient our investments toward this transition to a clean energy economy, and it will be the engine of growth for getting us out of the doldrums that we've gotten in right now," Zoi told the Reuters Global Environment Summit.

And other nations are looking in that direction as well -- specifically, the Sioux Nation, which is looking to convert the near constant winds that blow across the South Dakota plains into energy for sale.

As The New York Times reported in this article, "The idea of hitching tribal fortunes to the wind has gained momentum with the growth of the wind industry, which is expanding so fast that turbines are in short supply worldwide.

"Half the states now require utilities to add renewable energy to their portfolios. The oilman T. Boone Pickens is proselytizing about the value of wind, and thousands of turbines have sprouted on the Texas plains.

"If Native Americans can get into the business, some federal officials say, the hope is that wind, like casino gaming, could reshape their economies.

“It could be huge,” said Lizana Pierce, the project manager with the tribal energy program at the Department of Energy.

A nearby tribe, the Lower Brule Sioux, recently struck a deal with Iberdrola Renewables, a subsidiary of the Spanish utility Iberdrola S.A., to build a 225-megawatt wind farm.

So which is it?

Has the credit collapse doomed efforts to save the planet, or do those efforts provide perhaps the last best hope of re-constructing the economy?

Well, for the sake of the next generation, how about we all look on the bright side on this one.

If nothing else, it helps alleviate that feeling of helplessness, allows us to do something, and points us in the right direction.