Yes we can

Well, now that we've seen that Obama is the same-old, same-old, we know it's up to us. Thomas Friedman said at the Aspen Ideas Festival last week -- the economic crisis IS the environmental crisis. It's all intertwined, and if things get worse, we'll fight about food, water, land, you name it. Solving our problems in this century is critical to peace. And peace is critical to security. We forget that sometimes. What people really want is to feel secure. They don't really want peace (except when they yearn for it in a sentimental way). But they always want to feel secure. We need to connect those dots for them. What Friedman was specifically referring to was the way we interact with economics and the environment: we consider growth and expenditure of finite resources as good, without considering all the costs. We privatize profits and socialize costs (such as environmental and cultural consequences). As much as we're all getting tired of the word, this system is not sustainable. It will end, because by definition it cannot go on perpetually. It is only by moving into new ways of doing business and of interacting with Mother Earth that we will be able to have a civilization that can live on, in peace and security. But I have hope! A young relative of mine is working for a new company that's figured out how to "consumerize" solar panels. Another is working on low-impact ways to raise food and build housing. Let's join them; let's insulate our houses, figure out how to have one car or less (HourCar has finally come to the metro area!), use bikes more, demand better transit, subscribe to wind power, use whatever is available to us. I'm convinced that with just these superficial efforts, the US will save up to 40% in energy, giving us a breather. The next step of course is to spread the word to other countries.