Post Election Reflection

Now that I've come down a bit from my euphoria, I just wanted to take a minute to share my impressions about the post-election speeches.  

I thought McCain's concession speech was delivered in a respectful, gracious, and appropriate manner.  It showed great strength of character and integrity on his part.  More than anything, I think his true love for his country was evident.  I believe him when he says that he hopes both sides can come together, and I applaud his efforts to encourage his supporters to do the same.  It cannot be easy to deliver a concession speech and in my opinion, he did it well.

It is obvious from my earlier posts that I was hoping for an Obama victory, and in my aforementioned euphoria, I was not able to contain my excitement.  I am not sure I can be completely unbiased in my assessment of his speech, but I will try.  I hate to give a disclaimer, but I feel like I need to.  I was very impressed with Obama's speech overall.  I particularly appreciated his reserved and serious manner.  In my opinion, he spent an appropriate amount of time noting the momentousness of the occasion, and did not dwell on any sort of celebration of victory.  He moved fairly quickly to a discussion about the seriousness of the challenges our country is facing, and also issued a call to action for all citizens to join in and work toward solutions.  

Today on the news, I heard the reports about the transition teams, some of Obama's staff picks, and information regarding the scheduling of meetings with President Bush.  It's kind of hard to believe after the long, hard campaign, that things are already moving this quickly.  The real action is just beginning.  I heard the issue of energy mentioned on the short list of concerns that Obama plans to address right away.  I'll definitely be paying attention as will millions of others here in the United States, and around the world. 

Signed, Sealed, Delivered!

It's in the books!  Barack Obama is the President of the United States of America.  I am speechless.  I have the chills.  I am honored to have been part of this.

Cautiously optimistic

It's looking pretty solid for an Obama victory at this moment.  CNN has Obama at 207 electoral votes and McCain at 95 with the West Coast still outstanding.  With California's 55 electoral votes expected for Obama, he is very close to the 270 needed to win.  However, after some of the elections I've been through, I'm not taking anything for granted.  I'm cautiously optimistic, but I'm not celebrating just yet.

An education in blogging...a look back at my journey.

For the last month, as I blogged about the issue of energy, not only did I learn a great deal about my chosen subject, but perhaps even more important were the lessons I learned through the process of publishing a blog.  My research into the issues of energy and its interconnectedness to the economy, foreign policy, and the environment provided me with a better understanding of the challenges our government faces when attempting to implement a comprehensive energy plan. 

I started this project by challenging myself to view the issue of energy through a variety of lenses, rather than making my decisions with only the environment in mind.  At the time, we were experiencing record high gas prices, and the focus was on reducing our dependency on foreign oil.  This was the first test to the strictly environmental position I had always clung to, and also where a clear difference emerged in the candidate's plans to address the problem.  As I delved into the facts and figures of our energy usage as well as the candidate's plans, I realized that my vision of windmills supplying all the clean energy the world needs, was not very realistic.  I experienced a slight shift in my thinking related to energy and the environment.  I still consider the environment to be a top priority when it comes to making energy decisions on a personal level, and also want my government to consider it a top priority; however, I realize that the complex connections to the economy and issues of foreign policy cannot be ignored and also deserve consideration when designing a comprehensive energy plan for our nation.  I believe that strict environmentalists are very important to the debate, and have the utmost respect for their devotion to protecting the environment, however I no longer count myself as one of them.  The reason why I think they are crucial to the debate about energy, even though their position is somewhat polarizing, is because there are so many opposing forces that put jobs and the economy ahead of the environment.  

My blog took an interesting turn midway through October, as the financial crisis gripped the world.  Illustrating once again the relationship between energy and the economy, the plans for government investment into alternative energy started to look less and less likely.  Because blogs are evolving entities, I had to adjust my research and shift away from our government's plans for energy, and look into how other groups outside the government might deal with our energy challenges.  Although this was not something I initially intended to include in the scope of my blog, I am so glad circumstances forced me to do so.  It made me realize that I had become much too complacent and had put too much faith in the government to solve our energy problems.  I now believe that some combination of the private sector, civic groups, and the environmental movement will play a major role in the future of energy.

About two thirds of the way through my blog project, I found my support firmly behind the  Obama/Biden ticket as it relates to energy policy.  I believe their plan does address the issues related to the economy and foreign policy, while keeping the environment in mind. The McCain/Palin plan focuses more on reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and places an emphasis on nuclear energy as the main form of renewable energy.  I believe that nuclear energy, with all its inherent risks and unresolved issues related to nuclear waste storage, is the least desirable form of renewable energy and should be considered a last resort after we fully tap the potential energy in wind, solar and water.  

The experience of blogging was not always comfortable for me, but I know that I have grown because of it.  I was particularly challenged with the time constraints involved with biweekly postings.  I usually have more than enough time to research a topic, sit with my thoughts a while, form an opinion, write a draft or two, and then finalize my work; all before anyone has a chance to read it.  Without that luxury, I found that my writing was not up to my usual standard, and I had more than a few foot-in-mouth incidents because of it.  My word choice was sometimes off the mark, and in fact one of my posts was published with a title that completely misrepresented what my post was about.  As a result, it obviously influence how my readers interpreted my post, as their comments reflected more on the title than the content of the post.  I also learned some valuable lessons through commenting on other people's blogs.  In one instance, I failed to properly recognize the personal nature of a blog, where the author had put a great deal of thought and effort into their post, and I had, in my passionate response, neglected to pay enough attention to the tone of my comments and inadvertently offended the author.  I am used to passionately debating in person, where respect can be shown through eye contact, tone of voice, a friendly smile or even physical contact.  Without those gestures, word choice and tone are critical to effective communication.  My failures to communicate taught me that I still have a lot to learn.

And as for the most profound education I received during this experience, it is without a doubt my very deep appreciation for writers who choose to publish their work.  My relationship with published writing has been a very one-sided affair.  I have been an avid consumer and an absent contributor.  Until I nervously posted my first blog entry, I had never written for an audience other than my friends, family, and perhaps a college professor or teaching assistant.  I was completely unprepared for the vulnerability I felt when I put my thoughts and opinions on display for the blogosphere to read and possibly comment on.  As I mentioned, I have always been a voracious reader of newspapers, magazines, fiction, non-fiction, you name it, and I don't think I really understood, until this blog project, what an amazing gift the authors had given me.  I hadn't given much thought to who was behind the words that had given me such pleasure, or anguish, or amusement.  Now when I read, I will always remember to be grateful to the author who took a risk so that I have the privilege to entertain and educate myself with the fruits of their labor.  

Ashley Judd and Valerie Biden speak at UNC

I had the opportunity yesterday to hear Joe Biden's sister, Valerie Biden, and actress Ashley Judd speak on behalf of the Obama campaign, in an effort to mobilize early voters.  Ashley Judd briefly covered some of Obama's programs and made a quick mention of his energy plan.  She then spoke about her personal passion for the issue of energy in America, and unrelated to the Obama campaign, she discussed a book called The The Green Collar Economy by Van Jones.  It sounds like a very interesting read, the main point is that both our economic and energy problems can be addressed if we invest in alternative energy.  It was pretty exciting to hear both of them speak - and early voting had a steady stream of voters.  

My readers have spoken on the issue of leaf blowers

I asked my readers to give me their thoughts on the use of leaf blowers.  Out of the five responses I received, 2 were in favor of eliminating them altogether, and 3 voted in favor of using them in moderation.  If you include my vote for elimination, we have a TIE.

I'm usually all for moderation, but if you consider that leaf blowers are part of the bigger picture of our total gasoline consumption, and then you see how difficult it is to make gas cuts in other areas of our lives, then the elimination of leaf blowers seems like a good place to start.  I think most people would find it easier to cut out leaf blowing than to try to take a bus or ride a bike to work.  And I can't say that the gasoline saved would be equivalent, because obviously leaf blowers use less gas than cars.  This also seems like one of those issues where those worried about our dependency on foreign oil and those concerned about the environment can actually agree.

I think any efforts at conservation are going to be uncomfortable, but this one doesn't seem incredibly painful.  Leaf blowers gained widespread popularity in the 70's.  Interestingly, it seems that Los Angeles was one of the first areas to encourage the use of leaf blowers because businesses and homeowners were using hoses to spray leaves off sidewalks and driveways, and at that time California was experiencing a drought, so leaf blowers were thought to be a way to save water.  Now California is leading the way in banning leaf blowers, and many states are considering bans as well.  One of the difficulties California is facing is actually enforcing the ban. 

Thanks to my readers who commented on this issue.  I appreciate the feedback!  

Empower yourself - get informed about energy!

I've put together an extended reading list to help you get informed about energy.  If you have anything to add to the list, please feel free to do so by clicking on "comments" at the end of the post.

A great place to start is the Energy Information Administration website, which provides the Official Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government.  The website provides all the statistics you can imagine with regard to our current energy usage, as well as forecasts for the future.  This is where I started my research for this blog. 

Energy Information Administration - EIA - Official Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government

I'm sure most of my readers are already well versed on the McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden energy plans, but in case you need a refresher:

JohnMcCain.com - McCain-Palin 2008

http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/factsheet_energy_speech_080308.pdf

If you want to get a better understanding of the some of the different energy sources and how they work:

Sources of information regarding the different types of renewable energy:

EERE Consumer's Guide: Renewable Energy

An in-depth look at nuclear energy:

CQ Researcher Online - Entire Report

MIT Technology Review for clean coal technology:

Technology Review: Picking a Winner in Clean-Coal Technology

Obviously, one of the biggest challenges we face with regard to energy is how to reduce the amount of gasoline we use, and of course we use most of it in our cars for transportation.  Many new vehicles are being designed to use less gasoline, but not all of them are created equal when it comes to their ultimate impact on the environment.  In order to get a better understanding of the different types of vehicles, how they work, and what stage of development they are in, please visit:

Technology | Hybrid Cars

Some interesting articles covering the latest news in energy:

Coal vs. wind: Energy fight rages -- baltimoresun.com

Energy 'independence' is easier said than done | Business | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Major Potential Changes Seen in U.S. Energy Policy after 2008 Election - MarketWatch

Climate Policy Prospects Follow Markets South - Council on Foreign Relations

If you want to check out what a few non-governmental groups are doing to address our energy issues:

NRDC: Oil & Energy

Gen-We.org Video

PickensPlan: The Plan