Apollo Feedback: What Obama Should Do First, Part Two

We asked what President-elect Obama should do first. Almost 100 of you from the Apollo Nation responded. There are lots of good ideas here in the second part of our Feedback feature highlighting your suggestions for the new president. The first part is here.

Tool Up Or Take A Leap
Obama needs to use his considerable leverage with the carmakers. The car corps did not lead the U.S. in innovation, did not anticipate customers preferences in spite of their knowledge of technology used in other countries, have ignored creativity and undermined creative advances by self-proclamed entrepreneurs and now they want a bailout that Congress seems poised to give them!  It seems all you have to do is fail and the taxpayers will be there to hand over their hard earned money. President Obama, after Nov. 20th, can tell this bunch “Tool up or take a leap!” And make it good. No 33-40 mpg. We need better than that. Consumers are standing by to activate a network of support for change that will set a standard for the world. Automakers should be allowed to experience a degree of penance for what they have created through their ivory tower thinking!  
Oma Rose

Hurrah!
The wave of democracy evidenced in the election of President-elect Barack Obama brought great joy to millions across this great country and the world. His dreams are now the hope and beacon of light for those whose mission it has been to bring awareness to the enviro-socio-economic needs of the world. To that end, we are hopeful that this great leader will begin his first 100 days with the establishment of programs to expand the green energy market providing jobs to millions of American’s who will desperately need work.
Randy L Knop
Business Manager/Secretary-Treasurer
Rocky Mountain District Council of Laborers’
Fort Collins, Colorado

Efficiency
1. Implement all measures to improve efficiency of the use of energy efficient lighting, heating and cooling systems, building insulation standards, industrial processes, much higher CAFE standards for autos and trucks, etc. This could be through a combination of tax incentives and grants.

2. Initiate a carbon tax with a cap and trade system with a goal like that proposed by Al Gore.

3. Accelerate research on renewable fuels from cellulose and eliminate subsidies to ethanol from corn.

4. Institute tolls on all federal highways so automobiles and trucks will bear more of the true cost of this service. Increase the federal tax on gasoline so that the price will be closer to the European price. Use the revenue to support rail transit and repair the roads.

5. Accelerate the implementation of the nuclear waste storage facility at Yucca Mountain so there will be a safe and secure location to store nuclear waste. This will make the interim use of nuclear power in place of fossil fuels a more secure option.

6. Set national goals for generation of energy from renewable sources with teeth.
Stephen Rosenblum

Alternative Energy
Obama needs to allow the alternative energy devices that have already been invented but put on the shelf by Detroit and Big Oil to be allowed in the marketplace. Put the electric cars back on the road. The technology to get 300 miles/gallon already exists. There are free energy devices out there. Bring back the hemp mobile. There is no need to drill in Alaska or offshore in the Gulf. Let’s get away from our dependency on oil now. It can be done quickly once the oil barons are no longer in control of our government.
Karen Stewart
Atlanta

All Benefit
The first thing to be done is to get all the diverse groups and organizations fighting for environmental, economic and energy improvement together and networking so that we can all benefit from the full force of our numbers, the circulation of ideas and creativity, and the enhanced availability of funding for new projects that will accrue from the financiers and entrepreneurs being made more aware of each other within the network.  I am a member of the Apollo Alliance, but I’m also a member of PickensPlan and “WeCanSolveIt — both .org.

These two other groups are just a couple of the largest and most organized of the groups working toward our agenda. We most assuredly have many more points in common than not, and I can’t see how we could fail to benefit by joining together to promote our common goals. Makes a lot of sense to me.
Victor Smith

Wind in Oklahoma
As an Oklahoma resident, I note the proliferation of wind generators in western Oklahoma. This has created thousands of good paying green jobs in a state that has desperately needed such jobs for a long time. What we need from President Obama is the following: More development of Oklahoma wind power.

You mentioned Missouri’s recent initiative in your e-mail. Missouri utilities need look no further than their neighbors to their south and west for their green energy needs. I would also like to point out that the development of wind power in California has created controversy in that state. Last year when I visited that state, I read in local newspapers that large numbers of birds of prey were being killed by wind generators located in Altamont Pass. Western Oklahoma does not have mountains , and I am not aware of any major environmental impact from wind generators in our state. I am aware of estimates that California’s energy needs could be provided by development of Oklahoma’s wind energy potential.

You are no doubt aware of the shameful and despicable statements made by a certain Senator from Oklahoma regarding global warming. His name does not deserve repeating. What you may not be aware of is the fact that Big Oil is providing a substantial number of good paying jobs in what can only be described as a corporate welfare scheme in which the quid pro quo is the nauseating spectacle of listening to our politicians shilling for Big Oil. If we can replace those jobs with green jobs, we can further undermine opposition to initiatives to reduce global warming.

Second, we must get on with the Apollo Project for renewable energy proposed by President-elect Obama during the campaign. I recall that Oklahoma State University did much wind energy research back in the day, thanks to federal funding provided by President Jimmy Carter. Additional research is necessary to improve the efficiency of renewable energy. Indeed, if President Carter had not provided the support in the 1970’s we would not have the resources we have today. Such a project must include research into the development of practical room temperature superconductors. I will not go into details for the sake of brevity, but I would encourage all concerned to find and watch the episode of the PBS TV series NOVA that deals with this issue. OSU, along with many other institutions, was doing research in this area prior to 9/11, after which said research was discontinued in favor of obtaining federal funding for anti-terrorism technology research. I would argue that superconductor development is part and parcel of any anti-terrorism strategy, as our dependence on Mideast oil has led to policies that have fueled acts of terror against our people. In sum, we need President Obama to take action to encourage the development of wind power and to launch the Manhattan Project of our time.

It is said that the generation of Americans who fought World War II were the Greatest Generation. This includes those who participated in the Manhattan Project. Just as it is possible that President Obama could be the next FDR, it is also possible that those who successfully meet this greatest challenge of our time may be compared to those who defeated the terrorists of their time. Let’s get after it!
Steven McQuiston

Nature’s Affordable Energy
I often think, “Why don’t elected officials ask people what they want?” When the majority is ignored as it was by people in government, and by proxy the mainstream media, we end up with the misery many encountered in the last eight years. My priorities are:

1. Making nature’s energy affordable to all.

2. Local green houses sustained by clean, renewable resources.

3. Educating people to grow food.

4. Making all that we can be local such as growing food, and manufacturing.

5. Transportation by rail is great!
Frank Sanfilippo
Portland, Maine

Right Path
Short list of top items for the Obama administration, not in priority order, either in terms of impact or political feasibility.

1. Instruct EPA to develop rules for regulating CO2 as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act (and in keeping with MA v EPA).

2. Clear the legal path for California to adopt its own CAFE standards.  If auto companies get any federal assistance, they must agree to stop challenging this in court.

3. Fast-track a FERC review and develop a “smart” national energy grid policy.  Think of green-collar job potential as well as cutting energy use, carbon emissions. and folks’ utility bills.

4. Amend federal statute to require state and local energy efficiency laws be enforced. Also amend it to establish guidelines to help states and cities create incentives for buildings that are greener and more energy efficient than code. Consider Portland Oregon’s plan and reach out to NYC Mayor Bloomberg’s Office of Sustainability.  Think of green collar-job potential

5. Develop more ambitious and more comprehensive federal energy efficiency

standards for appliances.

6. Big idea challenge — rethink and recreate policies for smart, effective. and efficient incentives for the above.

I am on the Steering Committee of the NYC Apollo Alliance and I know that the

blue-green alliance is on the right path.
Nancy E. Anderson

Core Technologies
President Obama should focus first on stimulating the renewable energy sector so that we can sustain our energy needs using solar, wind and smart grid technologies. The timing is excellent because the core technologies are available and the momentum already underway, as represented by the State efforts you have highlighted. Over time, technology performance and functionality will improve and costs will drop.

I favor starting with electric vehicles, photovoltaic solar energy collection and smart battery/grid energy storage and distribution. This focus would address our energy needs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reduce carbon footprints and greenhouse gas emissions, create jobs, stimulate the economy, and help give us an exit strategy from global contests over oil pipelines. If we enable this program with a core tenet of social responsibility, which Obama himself embodies, we can shore up our own crumbling political infrastructure locally and globally.
Jill A. T. Sorensen
Executive Director
Baltimore Electric Vehicle Initiative, BEVI
1206 Ridgley Street
Baltimore, MD  21230
443-514-7122
jats@bilyan.com

Amory Lovins For Energy Chief
I’ve been fascinated with the work of Amory Lovins and those at the Rocky Mountain Institute for years.

• Carbon-fiber bodies instead of steel for transportation
• Switch grass instead of corn-based ethanol
• Micro-power regeneration
• Super insulation and green architecture vs. air conditioning the outdoors
• Wind, solar, geothermal and hydrogen ideas
• Living and working smarter and closer to work
• Proving nuclear power is non-starter
• Decentralizing power generation
• Life-cycle cost thinking
• Feebates
• Negawatts

I could go on and on and I know you know what I am talking about. Idea one to Obama - make Amory Lovins the Energy Czar.
Brian Marc Shatz
Tampa

Green Reality Show
I confess I don’t follow green policy but rather try to live green instead, but my main thoughts are these:

1. The transition to green should be aggressive in its goals — 100% renewables for the U.S. by 2020. The president should make it clear that the planet is trying to balance itself and will not wait for us. We are the team that’s down by 25 in the middle of the 4th quarter.

2. The president should indicate to the world that he is open to working globally on behalf of the U.S. to create global standards that reign us in, but also reign in new economies that are growing using 20th century unhealthy practices. We need a worldwide treaty with the U.S. on board.

3. No Bailouts to companies unless they practice green. What I mean by this: if the auto companies fail, I’m not sad because they’re making a product that no one wants anymore. If they want money from the government, that money can only be given towards the release of green vehicles — interiors that are green like the smart car, electric plug-ins, hydrogen. No fossil fuels. That’s the only way they get taxpayer/government support. Anything else is a freaking heist. I say this with much self-interest. I’m an independent musician and I have scaled back my travel because I don’t think it’s ethical given what I know about the planet. I’d like an affordable green car so I can get out there and make money playing shows.

4. The president should lay out a challenge to technology moguls to create green equipment. I have been reluctant to upgrade my gear on the cycle that the market releases new products because I’m concerned about all the toxic waste that’s created. Can’t we regulate this? Can’t we create and incentive for computer and music gear companies, etc., to create renewable equipment (here, I think of the solar-powered computers that are donated to kids around the world. We have plenty of poverty-stricken folks in the U.S.A. What about donating similar products to impoverished schools here?

5. I have a friend who’s been “inventing” green concepts for at least a decade but he’s disconnected to a network of folks who can implement his ideas. I’d love to see a president make small inventors his priority over large corporations. Whoever has the best idea should get backed by government structures. I don’t know how this works exactly, but there needs to be a way to give people opportunity to innovate. Maybe something as dorky as a reality show — the green car reality show, for example. Amateur inventors work with car companies to develop their ideas. The winning idea gets into the company’s new line of vehicles. The winner owns the patent.

6. Finally, I’d like to see the president and our government embark on a very aggressive educational campaign to the public. I’ve been thinking for quite a while about how we as a people are disconnected from how our energy is created. I would love to see a revolution in thought, where people realize they don’t need to depend on a power company or grid to provide their energy. That we can, in fact, each have homes that are self-sustaining. We have much more power than we realize to control our personal environment and our personal finances. The capital costs may seem large, but entrepreneurial thinking in government can help citizens develop energy independence on a personal level.
C. Heather Kropf

Al Gore For EPA
It’s my hope and prayer that President Obama will reward us all by making Al Gore the head of the EPA! That one appointment would move us miles ahead in the fight for clean energy, because we need to work harder on restrictions and audits of companies who are blatantly polluting our country and I believe Al Gore could get those things done.

I was so hoping my vote and that of other Democrats here in Oklahoma would rid us of Jim Inhofe, but it didn’t and unfortunately for us, there are no term limits in place for Senators. We desperately need someone in the EPA that can help enforce things here - we have some of the worst pollution from our coal-fired electric plant in Muskogee to the waste in Pitcher and the Tar Creek superfund site - and since the Republicans won back their majority here, we have no protection, or hope for progress on pollution issues.

If the president appoints very strong environmentalists, like Mr. Gore, to head-up important offices - I believe we can achieve our Green Goals without breaking the bank.
Vickie Allen

Sun and Move
The 2 priorities I see are 1) residential solar 2) transportation. These two are connected. The future I envision goes something like this.  A person would have a solar panel(s) on their house, which of course would provide electricity for the household. At night you would plug in your car and charge your car batteries for your commute to work the next day. In order for this to happen residential solar would have to be subsidized thru the government so everyone can gain access. Also at the same time our current vehicles would have to be modified with an electric motor and battery pack. This would also have to be subsidized by the government. The current car dealers could do the modifications. Now a by product of the residential solar would be if the household has extra power , this could be sent back thoughr the system for commercial use. Imagine all of the jobs that would be created w/ this scenario. Factory production, installers, mechanics etc. This is the future I envision.
Rick Taylor

Freedom
While there is no doubt about the importance of renewable energy, jobs, the economy, and the Iraq war, there are fundamental issues of freedom that must be dealt with. If these are not repaired, the rest is essentially meaningless.

1.  The Military Commissions Act of 2006, effective repealed the “Writs of Habeas Corpus”.  This is the mark of a totalitarian society and can be used to silence and “disappear” any opposition by simply declaring them an “enemy combatant”.  Repealing this act should be the very highest priority.

2.  Corporate “personhood” should be revoked immediately.  Giving corporations the rights of citizens is the foundation for the corporate state we have today.  Until this is changed, the term “democracy” is a fig leaf for “corporatism”.  I refer you to the following article: How Corporations Became Living Entities with Full Rights and Privileges in the United States The Supremacy of the Super-Citizen” by William Rivers Pitt, t r u t h o u t  Perspective ,Thursday, 30 June 2005.
Jesse Barr
Winslow, Arizona

Heart Goes Out
There are so many things that require attention and I can’t begin to prioritize them.  My heart goes out to President Obama as he faces this daunting task. I’m wondering what I can do personally to help and perhaps what we can do as a country to help. I know that jobs are essential so I’m wondering if there are not numerous projects to start that will help the infrastructure of the country and get new jobs going. Perhaps something including solar and wind power might be a good start? Perhaps getting light rail from coast to coast (like the interstate system) would be a good source of jobs, not to mention help the environment. Many countries surpass us on this very important accomplishment.  We should look at those countries as models, Spain and China come to mind. The country has so much debt that I don’t have a clue as to how to pay for these but I do believe that where there is a will, there is a way.
Nannette Marsh

Renewable, Efficient, Smart
Here is a list of priorities for our new government, not necessarily in order and can be implemented simultaneously:

1. Bailout for automobile industry only for improving efficiency and re-tooling for new electric or hybrid cars. No money for old system of inefficient vehicles!

2. Change tax and subsidy structure to favor clean, sustainable low CO2 energy

No to coal, oil, and nuclear. Yes to solar, wind, hydrogen, fuel cells, tidal, geo-thermal, micro-hydroelectric.

3. Implement Conservation and Efficiency measures; efficient lighting (bulbs), vehicle fuel efficiency standards, buildings (insulation), industrial plants, electrical plants.

4. Build clean energy electricity generation plants. Cooperate with industry, state and municipalities, providing loans, engineering and research.

5. Design and Build a smart electrical grid that allows for renewable energy

6. Design, Build and Improve Railway system that includes passenger and cargo and new high speed light rail grid.

7. Facilitate building and expansion of integrated public transportation systems.

8. Redesign cargo distribution network, build coastal RO-RO ports to ship containers between coastal cities, integrating these ports with rail lines, so that cargo is moved primarily by ship, then rail and trucked only to local destinations. Integrate this with a computerized courier network to facilitate efficient shipping of all packages, cargo etc to reduce and eliminate trucks, tractor trailers, local private car shopping.

9. Design of Intentional communities with Zero CO2 footprint. Redesigning, re-engineering of cities, municipalities and urbanization to reduce private automobile oriented transportation. Living, working, shopping, recreation areas connected with alternatives to roadway system. Increase bike usage (bike garages, free city bike use, bike lanes, ), public transportation, park and rides, electric car parking garages with chargers, smart GPS integrated parking spot finder, (to eliminate city driving looking for parking),  rails, boats. Transportation by ship is more efficient than rail, rail more efficient than bus/truck.
10. Federally supported Recycling Centers to facilitate change from old-inefficient appliances, automobiles, trucks, electronics, industrial equipment.
Joel Stewart
Captain Greenpeace ships
joeldavidstewart@gmail.com

Climate Change
Global warming is the first thing Obama should work on. We have very little time left, and nothing else will matter if we let it get out of control. Fortunately he can tackle the economy at the same time by investing in green technology and creating green jobs. And ending the wars will free up much needed money to help pay for all this and to begin to reduce the deficit, as will ending subsidies to oil companies and to companies that ship our jobs overseas. So it is not like he has to choose one issue or work on one issue at a time. But global warming should be the top and most urgent priority, because if we don’t solve this problem, all the effort we put into other things will be wasted. If we pass a certain point, feedback will take over. Then there will be no economy, no human race, possibly no life at all. We can’t let that happen!
Brian Fikes

Water
Water is our primary concern. Overbuilding, housing development in the counties surrounding Sarasota and Bradenton are threatening to diminish the water supply in already established communities.
Beverly Pottern Shapiro
Longboat Key, Florida

Biofuels
President Obama should work on encouraging development of enhanced and new biofuels that can be used to run our cars and machines that now run on gasoline and oil.  Hopefully these would 1) not take away from food production but be a source of revenue for farmers that helps keep small farms in business producing organic foods, and 2) be non-polluting and highly efficiently utilized in existing engines and 3) less costly at the pump than fossil fuels. We need to have all sources of renewables incorporated in the effort to ween ourselves off of oil and become energy self-sufficient. Brazil is self-sufficient and they can grow sugar cane for fuel.  What can we grow here?  The right biofuels will help reduce pollution.  When I looked over our beloved San Ramon Valley years ago from a skyscraper I saw smog.  It is even worse from the foothills of Mount Diablo  and in Dougherty Valley today.  I remember when the sky was blue.
Alice McKeon

Economy
The economy! But unlike many members of Congress, I think he can only fix the economy if he does that in a sustainable manner with long-term health in mind - health to the economy as well as the planet and everybody on it, us humans included. It’s time for a Green Deal, a WPA-like program that fixes our infrastructure (remember that bridge in Minneapolis? Most bridges in the US are close to that state). Such a program should also kick-start the greening of our economy. The recession is actually a great opportunity for us to redirect our economic priorities away from gas-guzzlers to cleaner alternatives; away from industrial agriculture to the more labor-intensive organic agriculture - that way people, not machines, grow our food. 
Rachel A. Buddeberg

World War Two-Era Collaboration
I am excited about participating in this transition to a sustainable world! You asked, “What should President Obama work on first?” Let me answer with remembered comments he made to us in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on September 22nd.  He was referring to the question of if he would also suspend his campaign and go to Washington to work on the Wall Street Bail out.  He said “anyone who aspires to be the President, better be able to do 10 things at once.”  He said he was in daily telephone touch with his friends in the Senate, and then listed the conditions that he felt must be added to the three page Bush Blank Check, and then said he would be at the last debate on Friday. When I watched Senator Chris Dodd on C-Span, on the night that the Senate passed the 500-plus page “rescue plan,” I was pleased to hear it contained all the points that Barack listed to us that day, and must have communicated to the team in the Senate working hard to forge a workable plan. 

With that little story, I’ll answer your question: We should work all the most important issues at the same time, with the same passion that America fought W.W.II.  Back then, and I was there, American people knew we were up against a huge challenge, and we all pulled together as one, to do whatever it took to accomplish the job. The only thing different about the challenge we are in now, is that the solutions are more complicated.

My advice is simple: rely on best practices that already exist, in fine style, someplace in the world.  For example when Taiwan decided on universal health care, they formed a team to travel to all the countries in the world that had done it, and took all the best ideas home for their own.  This concept applies to almost every challenge we face. Somebody has already done most of what we need to do, successfully, somewhere in the world.  Switzerland’s health care system looked just like ours in 1994 and they implemented the “moral imperative” of universal health care, which costs much less per capita than ours, yet far surpasses our “3rd world” national averages on longevity and infant mortality.  (Their health care workers, hospitals, drug companies, and insurance companies are doing just fine! and the population loves it.) The “not invented here” trap is an ego trip that will only slow us down!  This applies to health care, global climate change, the green revolution, pollution, resource consumption, wage disparity, food production, jobs, education, global conflicts, and ultimately the whole global human welfare index.

Please read Limits to Growth, The 30-Year Update by Meadows, Randers, & Meadows.  The most important chapter, after you understand the scope of the world problem, is Chapter 8, “Tools for the Transition to Sustainability” which lists them on page 271. “What are the tools we approached so cautiously? They are: visioning, networking, truth-telling, learning, and loving.” In only 19 pages they detail the meaning of these five tools in an elegant style. They have already shown that the longer we postpone global sustainable equilibrium, the penalty is reduction of the level of quality of life possible, and that only if we do it early enough to prevent devastating collapse, before the end of this century.
The Rt. Rev. James Zinzow

Solar
My husband and I see this opening moment as critical for getting the country on board with clean green energy. We don’t have a minute to waste!
Jan Marie Rushforth
Partner, Rushforth Solar LLC
www.RushforthSolar.com

National Energy Office
He needs a National Energy Office. It is all well and good to talk about national renewable portfolio standards, but the utilities run differently in each state, in fact in different parts of the same state. Both the infrastructure to receive renewable energy and the jobs that will be created, will all need national coordination to fulfill his promise. If there is national coordination along with funding that easily flows to the states to implement without tons of red tape and paper work, the states can work with NGOs, governors associations and their state agencies to get renewable energy and green jobs up and running. The whole issue of clean coal needs to be examined as well as his mentioning of nuclear as part of the renewable energy future. The funding for one nuclear plant is $7 billion and will take about 10 years to build. Think how far that $7 billion could go with wind, solar and geothermal!
Nancy H. Taylor
Author Go Green:How to Build an Earth Friendly Community
www.nancyhtaylor.com

Science and Climate Change
First and foremost he should ground his policies in the best science available which suggests that we have less than a decade to cut CO2 emissions dramatically. Then he should i.d. the means of doing that beginning with declaring a moratorium on new coal plant (including ‘clean’ coal), a timeline for shutting down existing ones; a tax on carbon; ending subsidies for fossil fuel corps and shifting all of those to renewables (not nuclear); a moratorium on all industrial logging of primary forests or imports of products made from such forests into the U.S.
Robert Jereski

Jobs Here
Obama must do two things first:  Get out of Iraq so we have some money, and second, work on renewable energy to create the jobs we need here in the U.S. to help with both the environment and the economy.
Judith Shields

Manage Auto Companies
I do not approve of continued bailouts without conditions. The government must manage the auto companies so they produce small cars and plug in hybrids. Like you, I do not want autoworkers to lose their jobs, just produce cars that consider global warming.
Frances Chapman

Hopeful
It is finally a hopeful time. Yes. As you requested, here is my response to what Obama should do.  An integrated approach for Obama would be to put money into green jobs that move us from foreign or domestic oil dependence, from research to manufacturing to education of citizens about the program.  Even if “bailing out” the auto industry by loans, that money must go to training new workers and creating new vehicles using green technology. That saves the economy by adding jobs and reducing oil dependency. Oil companies can save from job loss by converting to green energy solutions.
Dian Rains Allen

Conserve
Conservation, conservation, conservation. We all need to learn to use less, drive less, turn off the lights, recycle, drive less, buy products with less packaging, drive less, buy only what we need, wear out rather than replace, drive less, garden anyplace where possible, and did I say drive less? To live this way does not mean that one is deprived. I have tried to live this way for years and my life is richer. Encourage President Obama to lead us in this direction.
Pam Fuqua

Green Jobs
I recently posted an article on my alumni newsgroup on how to create new green jobs within the first 90 days of the Obama presidency.  My estimates were that $150 Billion could be spent on Solar & Wind energy with a government outlay of less than $10 Billion (over several years).  One of the Alumni recommended your website and after reviewing your New Apollo Program I thought this idea might be something that you could assist us in promoting to the Obama team. I created a blog that I posted my initial proposal as well as others to provide feedback.  It’s very high level and there is much to flush out. However I would appreciate any feedback you might have.  http://www.energyjobsnow.blogspot.com/
Steve Bernal

Electric Cars
Develop all electric cars. We already have roads. Let’s use them without consuming gasoline and creating carbon emissions.
Joyce Steingold

Stabilize
It goes to stabilizing the economy. I think the ongoing foreclosure of houses should be a first priority as well as extending unemployment benefits. A person without a job cannot keep paying a mortgage or anything else unless he has savings or some external help. There needs to be some kind of new deal so banks could work individually with each person who’s on the edge of foreclosure and work out some kind of repayment plan. I feel those whose houses have not yet sold could also be analyzed as well to see if something could be worked out with them so they can move back into their old homes. I feel it’s the foreclosures as much as anything that still has the stock market so jittery.
Jane Drake
Auburn University

At Once
President Obama needs to hit the ground running - push out everything at once.  We need a “green jobs” program (combination of the WPA and CCC) to build/rebuild and upgrade/retrofit our entire infrastructure - including the power grid, schools, and hospitals - and restore our wetlands and forests.  At the same time we need to institute universal healthcare to take the economic burden from business and from state and local governments that are currently covering the “unable to pay” emergency room patients.  We also, again at the same time, need to restore Fannie Mae to its original purpose - a governmental agency to buy up and refinance problem mortgages to low interest fixed rate 30-year ones to put the base back under the financial industry.  And we need to loan “green bonds” for startup funds to any company - preferably small business, but any business who will keep the jobs in America - building “green” products and producing green energy. If we do not do this all at once - grand slam - we will be prevented from doing any of it.
Barbara Fitzpatrick

Opportunity
There has never been a better time to focus priorities on clean energy like the current time. President Obama will have the unprecedented opportunity to convert America from a fossil energy consuming nation into one that leads the world in preserving it and using alternative energy.

Priority 1: The severe crisis that forces the US automobile makers to plead for government help is an excellent opportunity to transform the US vehicle fleet, which is responsible for a large share of the greenhouse gas emissions. Loans or other government assistance should be tied to re-tooling for the production of alternative fuel cars. In fact, it should strongly encourage primarily the manufacture of affordable electric cars that can be sold both on the US and on world markets. This may be bold, as well as expensive in the short term, but the world may well be ready for such bold moves.

Priority 2: A second priority should be the support of solar power, which would help fuel the electric vehicle fleet. Solar power is not sufficiently economical for private households yet, but it is the future, and interest in it is great.

Priority 3: Invest in exportable, clean-energy producing technologies. There is no reason why America cannot lead the way in these technologies and become a net exporter of them.

Priority 4: Investment in energy efficient grids and transmission lines to encourage savings of energy that has already been produced.

Priority 5: In addition to new rail lines where they make sense (considering all factors surrounding high population density), solve the suburb commuter problem by encouraging greater networks of buses running on alternative fuel that would take workers to metros and rail lines. This would go a long way toward de-clogging roads that were not built for mass transit.

Priority 6: Help people understand how to save energy in their homes. There are many simple, sometimes even inexpensive ways of reducing energy consumption around the house, that result in significant savings.

Another thought and a question: One source of energy about which I have seen few discussions in the U.S. and which is also not yet in wide use in Europe, is garbage. If we look at solar, wind and tide as energy that is, at least in some geographical regions, in limitless supply, garbage is the ultimate infinite resource that humankind has, literally, at its disposal. I realize that this is a difficult task, and energy must be used to convert it into more energy, but why not rid the world of waste while producing energy? I would like to hear more about this discussion.
Marlena Hurley