Sometimes those of who focus on energy and global warming issues seem to screaming into the wind, with little attention from others in the community. Netroots Nation's announcement for the 2009 put those emotions to the side. The Netroots Nation staff worked hard to find a site and location that meets the types of standards that are hoped to from us.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is close to major US cities, with a good rail network providing options to get there from New York, Washington, DC, and Chicago.
Al Gore has set a challenge: 100% clean electricity, 100%!
Get us (the US, and eventually, all the globe) off coal.
And, determine to do this within a decade.
People are going to scream that this is impossible. They will be wrong. This is possible, difficult to do in the timeline perhaps, but absolutely possible. They are wrong.
The Austin Independent School District will bring their Plug-In Hybrid Electric School bus (PHESB), one of very few in the nation, to outside the Convention Center and have people their to explain the bus, its successes, and the systems.
NOTE: Coding problems kept me from post the full discussion at Daily Kos. For a robust discussion of school buses see the full post at EENR and Docudharma.
If we make this just about gas prices, we are caught into a very dangerous framing. "Lowering" gas prices gets people thinking back to cheaper energy unit costs days. We need people, the nation thinking about enery as a system, as a "cost to own" rather than "cost to buy". We (the nation) should foster upfront investment (help it) that will lower total "cost to own" by reducing wasteful use of polluting energy. While difficult in a robocall, every single message (I would argue) should avoid getting captured in messaging that fosters thinking that we can go back to days of cheaper gasoline. Over the long term (and likely short term), it isn't going to happen.
In response, I was asked a very good question for which I had a very ? answer. Follow after the fold for that conversation.
Amid skyrocketing oil, gasoline, coal, and electricity (coming to a neighborhood near you) prices, 2008 offers Americans quite serious and stark choices between knowledgeable, impassioned, and thoughtful candidates when it comes to finding paths toward a prosperous 21st century economy, on the one side, and Fossil-Fool candidates focused on tightening our shackles to the ever-more costly (pollution, financial, otherwise) and archaic oil-coal based energy system.
One of these choices comes in Oregon, where Speaker of the House Jeff Merkley against so-called "moderate" Republican Gordon Smith.
Jeff was an easy choice for membership in the ranks of the Energy Smart Act Blue page. Join me after the fold for some indications as to why.
The push is on, big time. The solution to all of America's problems, evidently, is to drill, drill, drill. This is now the Republican mantra as they seem to believe that they have found a winning political issue, no matter what the implications of this "win" might be for America's future.
But that push is reliant on truthiness to such an extent that it moves past Stephen Colbert to simply lying.
Join me after the fold for a brief look at George the W, Mitch McConnell and John McCain's disingenous and deceitful words to drill the hole deeper rather than working to solve America's quite serious energy challenges.
Have you heard? Oilman T Boone Pickens is not only committed to planting the world's largest wind farm in the fertile soil of Texas. He is not only committed to working to stringing a meaningful electrical grid to move electricity from that wind farm to lush markets for harvesting serious profits. T Boone has a plan to save America (while making a bundle) and has committed some serious dough to convincing Americans that his plan is the path to a better future.
In something that reminds me of another Texan with charts (Ross Perot), Pickens' $58 million will go a long way, along with a cooperative media, in making sure that people hear about this.
And, as per the discussion after the fold, while there are some tremendous things among what Pickens is saying and pursuing, there are far more missing items, and there are some highly questionable elements.
Amid skyrocketing oil, gasoline, coal, and electricity (coming to a neighborhood near you) prices, 2008 offers Americans quite serious and stark choices between knowledgeable, impassioned, and thoughtful candidates when it comes to finding paths toward a prosperous 21st century economy, on the one side, and Fossil-Fool candidates focused on tightening our shackles to the ever-more costly (pollution, financial, otherwise) and archaic oil-coal based energy system.
One of these stark choices comes in California's 46th district, where Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook is running against ten-term Congressman Dana Rohrbacher.
Debbie was one of the first on the Energy Smart Act Blue page. Join me after the fold for some indications as to why.
UPDATE: Energy Smart Debbie Cook will be meeting with Barack Obama tomorrow morning, 13 July ...
Just how much of the pump price of gasoline is attributable to the war in Iraq? A dollar? Three dollars? None. That conversation recently swirled around me and, one one point, someone commented that well over half (or more than $2) of America's $4.10 gallon of gas is due to the war. Another person asked "Is that right?" And, after pulling out some hair from my head, my response was both short and then long.
The short:
Two dollars a gallon is, perhaps, as good a swag as anyone's. ... I think.
Part of the discussion: the Freshman Energy Smart Acceleration (FESA) Act.
FESA is a package of suggested programs that could provide a rallying point for the freshmen (and women) class of 2009, to join together for passage a set of legislative initiatives to help spark an Energy Smart renaissance across the United States.
In the face of $140+ barrel oil (and heading higher), Peak Oil, and Global Warming, an ever-growing definition: Freedom from Oil!
For those fighting to achieve that freedom, was another tool just added to the arsenal? The The Freedom Prize is in the tradition of the X-Prize:
An X PRIZE is a $10 million+ award given to the first team to achieve a specific goal, set by the X PRIZE Foundation, which has the potential to benefit humanity. Rather than awarding money to honor past achievements or directly funding research, an X PRIZE incites innovation by tapping into our competitive and entrepreneurial spirits.
Since diving into the deep end when it comes to energy issues, almost every day sees new fascinating concepts, approaches, and technologies. Fascinating ... exciting ... even hope inspiring at times. And, as well, as the passion builds, so many of these are truly Energy COOL.
This is a somewhat different path of discover and discussion when it comes to Energy COOL thinking. This isn't some emergent technology about to blow your mind away nor news of some momentous change in policy, but a window on a movement to communicate better paths forward through our public gardens.
So, join me in my stroll through a garden and, I hope, plan to take your own stroll.
A wave of interest in small dwellings — some to serve ... as temporary housing, others to become space-saving dwellings of a more permanent nature — has prompted designers and manufacturers to offer building plans, kits and factory-built houses to the growing number of small-thinking second-home shoppers. Seldom measuring much more than 500 square feet, the buildings offer sharp contrasts to the rambling houses that are commonplace as second homes.
This video is the rage among the Global Warming denial sect, as they pass it around and post it with great glee following Carlin's death. Their RIP is a celebration that George was one of theirs.
You got people around you.
The country's full of them right now, people walking around all day long, every minute of the day, worried about everything ...
the greatest arrogance of them all, Save the Planet. ...
The Washington Post is establishing a firm 21st Century tradition: when it comes to Global Warming, take guidance from Faux News, "Fair and Balanced".
Multiple times in the pastweek, both in reporting and on the editorial page, The Washington Post continued a seemingly iron tradition of coloring Global Warming science by ensuring that skeptics and deniers have their say as well, without providing any indication to the 'regular' reader that serial skeptics received a silver platter invitation to the Post's pages to spread their deception.
the Netroots Nation panel 
Amid skyrocketing oil, gasoline, coal, and electricity (coming to a neighborhood near you) prices, 2008 offers Americans quite serious and stark choices between knowledgeable, impassioned, and thoughtful candidates when it comes to finding paths toward a prosperous 21st century economy, on the one side, and Fossil-Fool candidates focused on tightening our shackles to the ever-more costly (pollution, financial, otherwise) and archaic oil-coal based energy system.
Boone Pickens is not only committed to planting the world's largest wind farm in the fertile soil of Texas. He is not only committed to working to stringing a meaningful electrical grid to move electricity from that wind farm to lush markets for harvesting serious profits. T Boone has a plan to save America (while making a bundle) and has committed some serious dough to convincing Americans that his plan is the path to a better future.
Amid skyrocketing oil, gasoline, coal, and electricity (coming to a neighborhood near you) prices, 2008 offers Americans quite serious and stark choices between knowledgeable, impassioned, and thoughtful candidates when it comes to finding paths toward a prosperous 21st century economy, on the one side, and Fossil-Fool candidates focused on tightening our shackles to the ever-more costly (pollution, financial, otherwise) and archaic oil-coal based energy system.
Just how much of the pump price of gasoline is attributable to the war in Iraq? A dollar? Three dollars? None. That conversation recently swirled around me and, one one point, someone commented that well over half (or more than $2) of America's $4.10 gallon of gas is due to the war. Another person asked "Is that right?" And, after pulling out some hair from my head, my response was both short and then long.
That is, truly enjoying 
A wave of interest in small dwellings — some to serve ... as temporary housing, others to become space-saving dwellings of a more permanent nature — has prompted designers and manufacturers to offer building plans, kits and factory-built houses to the growing number of small-thinking second-home shoppers. Seldom measuring much more than 500 square feet, the buildings offer sharp contrasts to the rambling houses that are commonplace as second homes.
people around you.
