The Real Mission, should you accept it.....

We are going to change the world.
Just a few points of reference. Movements are not exactly what they appear on the surface. They are a little more complex then simply people buying hybrid cars. They are shifts in the way people think. From an Anthropological stand point they are cultural revolutions. They are almost never pretty or smooth. They are almost always rough and there is usually a strong "Conservative" resistance. I don't mean this in current political terms, I mean this in the "I don't want things to change" terms. On top of that, no one entity, government, industry, president, pope, controls these upheavals. They are fundamental changes in the way that the populous sees the world. More importantly sees the future. Right now, we have people from drastically different perspectives seeing the same future. This may have not happened in over a hundred years. This may really be the start of a real revolution.

You can't say that the "60's" cultural revolution was one of these shifts. Not everyone was on board. Not everyone embraced this change. Sorry baby boomers you did not change the world. You just have to look at the 80's counter revolution, the swing to the right to see how you failed. All that happened is that we have been stuck in culture wars that have distracted us from the real, global economic and environmental battles that needed to be waged. Your "revolution" was not complete but it did change the world, slightly. But maybe not the way you thought it was going to change it.

There have been several small but important convulsions, minurature revolutions that have occured that have set the stage for the impending wave of change we are on the edge of, but they have been cultural wide. Swept through human kinds global culture so fast that we barely recognize their happening. But the important point of fact here is the vast majority of people embraced them.

The computer revolution as an example, happened because of the government. NASA and the moon shots generated many of the technological innovations that lead to the silicon revolution. On top of start of the microchip revolution we also got the Fuel cell development advances, solar cells and many more innovations that we are just now starting to realize. ( Don't forget those awesome Microfoam beds. ;-P )

It is not government, or private industry, that really moves things. It is when the people get properly inspired. Whether it is through the inspiration of great wealth to be made, (don't forget that along with the industrial revolution, the great advances for innovation from events like the California Gold rush, Levis, for goodness sake, who could live without blue jeans) or from the lofty ideas and inspiration of a presidential speech. JFK and a man on the moon. MLK and I have a dream. There are many things that "inspire" these movements.

My point is, the really big innovations in culture are unpredictable. And lets be clear about this. That is what we are looking for here. We want to spark a cultural revolution. We want our society to shift its energy paradigm. We want to shift everyone's thinking from internal combustion to electric. (Yes Al Gore was right, the internal combustion engine is not a good path for the future) We want to move people to a paradigm where we are not running around the world defending a goo from the earth, spending our treasure and children lives for our "National Security Interests" when in reality we are only perpetuating an addiction that we can, for a long time now, kick. An addiction that is not good for us, or the planet.

It is never easy to make cultural shifts. They are spontaneous sometimes. Sometimes they are spurred by one, two or several people. Right no we have several charismatic, and not so charismatic people building this movement. The movement has several roots to it. This is a good thing. We are all coming at the problem from different directions but the solution is the same. Some want to stop our dependence on foreign controlled resources, some want to stop green house gasses, some want to make profit. None of this matters to the movement. We must move from oil to electricity. From dirty coal to clean coal and NG.

This is not going to be easy. The technology is in place, the people have spoken, now we must get the rest of the population on board, speak to your friends. Risk becoming the thorn in their sides. ;-) Speak to your boss. Speak to your landlord. Speak to your government. We MUST have this happen. The ball is rolling but we are a long way from the edge of the hill where it will be self sustainable so we, US, need to keep pushing.

I am in favor of government financial help but not for big. I am for help for small energy implementation. Distributive generation. For big installations I think that tax incentives and subsidies for grid connection and grid improvements are in order. That way when Pickens builds his farms, the grid can handle it. He will make a lot of money, and good for him, feeding the grid.

On a side note, I feel the grid should be treated like the highway system. It should be built and maintained by the feds, interstate commerce after all, and that the government has the financial clout to build up the damn thing to a level that, like the interstate freeway system, we can all benefit from.

I think Industry should be given some special compensation for taking the risk. Our tax system already allows for "loss" but this is a special case we are asking these innovators to step up to meet. There should be "tax holidays" for a period of time for the innovation to grow and flourish. So long as money is poured back into the development of more, bigger, better, the profits should be exempt from taxes.

But the real key here is to shift the mind set of the American people. Not just a little, but absolutely. Fully. Every man woman and child must see this movement for what it is, a revolution. A change in thinking, a change in operating, a change in our fundamental view of the world.

Dan