A recent piece in Newsweek suggested that what we need to address the global problems of economic recession and en vironmental destruction is a "Green New Deal." The idea is a compelling one—that, just as FDR's infrastructure-centered work programs and the demands of World War II brought us economic drivers through municipal improvements and manufacturing (and lifted us out of the Great Depression), a global effort to address the energy crisis and the threat of climate change could provide us with a similar economic B-12 shot. Now, with an incoming administration that appears more likely to be receptive to such possibilities, may be the time to "get this party started."
Enter Extreme Networking. Like any movement with hope of real success, this "green revolution" has to start somewhere, or rather everywhere, and in many ways it already has. This Saturday, anyone interested in playing a part (and there are many parts) in the equation is invited to attend the Clean Energy Connections event in Springfield.
The day offers an opportunity to network with business developers, innovators, community leaders, entrepreneurs, financiers and more, and features a keynote address by noted clean energy proponent Bracken Hendricks, a Senior Fellow with the Center for American Progress, co-author of Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy, and co-founder of the Apollo Alliance. The latter, a national movement for clean energy and good jobs whose mission statement draws its inspiration from President Kennedy's call to meet the challenge of the Sputnik launch with a national commitment to landing a man on the moon, points to the Apollo mission as proof that America, and indeed the world, is capable of amazing achievements when collectively energized to tackle an obstacle.
Nov. 22, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., registration packages from $20 to $95, Mass Mutual Center, 1277 Main St., Springfield, (413) 577-3725, www.umass.edu/green.
