Green industry is popping up everywhere.

Or it should be. I honestly think it will be, very soon.

NC is perfectly suited to play a huge roll in the coming economic boom brought by Green based industries. As we all become more aware of how great a difference we can make by making small changes in buying habits, energy use, and water use, we all become a part of the solution. We know in our hearts that we must do this. There is no more time to wait and see.

We instinctively understand that we're all in this together. Nobody needs to sit down with us in our living rooms and explain how interconnected we all are when we can see our reservoirs on the news, dried up and nearly empty. That is an instant instinctive gut check. When you see that, you don't hear yourself say, "I'm screwed." You hear yourself say, "We're screwed."

There is no "I" when the reservoir is going dry. 

Not only that, nobody alive today will avoid the affects of $100 oil in the coming year.

But there is hope. If you ever wondered what great calling our children's generation might answer ... look no further. This is it. And it's time for our generation to make it happen on a grand scale for their futures by putting people in office who will do what needs to be done.

If you're under 25, you'll probably work somewhere in the "Greening" or "Renewable energy" industry before you retire in forty years. But, if you can get in on the ground floor now, you'll be able to build an incredibly successful career working on the Greening of America. You don't need any specific political or religious affiliation. See that you get yourself a solid well-rounded education, but you don't need any specific degree. Do what you're good at and what you love. Work hard and make good grades. This industry will develop and change as it grows, so you'll need to be capable of learning it hands on, as you go. You'll never be bored. You'll work on projects to build things your grandparents thought were science fiction. You will change the world just like renaissance scientists changed the world, and industrial inventors changed the world, and NASA engineers changed the world. They all learned new skills as they went, as they needed them. They created new gadgets and gave birth to the career paths many of your parents followed: rocket science (aeronautical engineering), fluid and power dynamics, oil technologies, propulsion technologies, computer science, programming, environmental controls, mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, communications, networking, plastics, optical technologies, medical devices and diagnostics, etc. All of those fields needed engineers for design and build, technicians for maintenance and repair, and manufacturing for production and parts. That is what your parents and grand parents did. New energy is what you will do.

This is not science fiction. It is real -- here and now. Check out what is already being done across the country.

Where are we now?  (a blog by a green energy expert)
From the WaPo: New Business Models, Technology Tap Into Trend
Wind in the Mojave desert.
See where the bleeding edge of new energy is now in this list of announcements and research articles.
A pdf on electric drives and renewable energy from Univ. of North Dakota.
Solar and energy storage technologies are symbiotic partners in the new energy economy, and the Germans are kicking our red, white and blue American arses here.

I could go on, but that's enough for now. Just remember this ... when car companies insist that electric/clean diesel cars are not feasible and power companies protest that solar/wind/geothermal energy production mechanisms are not feasible, they don't mean that those production mechanisms don't work. They certainly do work and will work -- on both small and large scale production schemes. What auto and power companies mean when they say "not feasible" is that they've crunched the numbers and concluded that they won't make as much profit off solar/wind/geothermal energy or electric/clean diesel cars as they do off nuclear/coal or gas powered cars (gas engines have the shortest lifespan of all engine types which makes auto makers very happy), so, naturally, they don't want to use them, so they say they're "not feasible".

However, we're at crisis level, folks. In this situation, everything is feasible. Everything must. be. feasible. There is untapped genius and innovation lying dormant in our high school, college and young working population. They are waiting ... begging ... for a challenge, a charge, a dare. If we as a people are to survive as a free and prosperous nation, we have to put this challenge to them. They will see it through. Because, like Kennedy said,

We choose to [do these things]. We choose to [do these things] in this decade ... not because they are easy, but because they are hard,because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win ....

In all honesty, we all know that there is no time left to dilly-dally. We must make decisions and pass legislation based on what's best for the long term. We must stop letting industries write the legislation that regulates them. Corporations are here to serve us by providing products and services. We are not here to serve them. We're idiots if we let them call the shots or even sit at the table on this journey. They are the most biased of all sources of information. They weigh all things against their own bottom line, with no thought to any other consideration.

That is certainly not the proper way to do business, but it is the prevailing custom here in America, ever since the spoiled children of the Greatest Generation started running things in the '80's and '90's -- and it is a completely unsustainable business paradigm. All that matters in that business model is driving efficiency, i.e., increasing profit -- quarter after quarter, year after year, because no CEO or highly educated Dottore should ever be expected to make do with anything less than all the cars and houses and boats and toys he wants, even if it means people lose jobs, lose houses, go hungry, get sick, stay sick and marriages break apart because of this skewed economy of "me-me-me" and the one-way money stream. ( / snark )

Of course, corporations would have us believe they are at least partially altruistic in their intent to buy a place at the legislative table. They would have us believe that they only want to be part of the "conversation" about energy and transportation and agriculture and health care because they have expertise to offer legislators who know little about these subjects. LOL. That's a good line, so shake the hand and smile, but send them away, nonetheless, because you know that a wolf happily puts on sheep's clothing, but it isn't to fit in, or to make those around him more comfortable, it is to get closer to the fattest dinner in the field.

In our metaphorical "field" we don't need the help of wolves, awesome as they are. We have plenty of strong, courageous, incredibly intelligent sheep dogs to help us. They are called professors and researchers and mechanics and programmers and engineers. They are inventors, adventurers, entrepreneurs, technicians and dreamers. And they have all the skill and knowledge and motivation necessary to educate and guide Congress, the Executive Branch and the American people toward the reality of New Energy -- and cleaner, greener ways to do everything. 

Hey, I mean no harm to wolves (a.k.a. industry executives). Some of my best friends are wolves. ;) They are admirable, beautiful, very intelligent creatures. I would never wish they weren't here, nor would I ever advocate for their removal. In fact, I would actively defend them if others did advocate for their demise. They are a vital part of our economic system, it's awesome apex creature (predator), if you will.

I just wouldn't put wolves on the committee that's in charge of figuring out what's best for the sheep (everybody else), that's all.

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