THE ISSUE OF OUR TIMES
I am so impressed with particularly this one of my two US Senators. Michael Bennet has been a champion of moving our country to a new energy paradigm. This IS if not anything, THE VITAL issue of our times. Along with Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Tom Carper (D-DE), Tom Udall (D-NM), Bennet introduced a bill called the OIL INDEPENDENCE FOR A STRONGER AMERICA ACT which seeks to diminish U.S. oil consumption by approximately 8 million barrels per day in 2030 by setting vehicle efficiency standards, developing alternative transportation fuels, improving travel options and infrastructure, and reducing the amount of oil used to heat buildings. (The Environmental and Energy Institute) Information on this bill can be found here.
This would not only move America toward oil independence, but boost national security, reduce the need for war, enhance Americans’ self-sufficiency; it would create significant jobs, and improve the planet and our bodies’ health.
What would it be like to live in a city that with less pollution, congestion, traffic?? Pristine lands and oceans without worry of toxic oil slicks, clean air… What a sight it would be for every sunshine state roof-top glistening with solar panels, windy states sporting a collection of wind turbines dotting a verdant hillsides, and a lightrail trains coasting to their stops at convenient times and locations!
According to Bennet’s energy policy liason Zane Kessler, already, 20,000 jobs have been created in Colorado as the result of wind turbine tower production that has come to the state. He supports clean energy technology tax incentives which would draw more such businesses to states offering them. He also envisions a “Race to the Top” with energy (similar to the “Race to the Top” in education, which used a carrot approach to encourage states to produce a system of rules designed to improve teaching in our schools). This would be a system used to allot federal funding to clean energy investments based on a system to determine which states are prepared to create an environment conducive to producing clean energy technologies. Thousands of jobs are a by-product of this, so is a product which can be exported around the world. Last night at a town hall, where I was honored to meet Mr. Bennet, he said that one of the United States’ largest exports is military equipment and aircraft. China’s, by contrast, is solar panels! How is it, that they are leading producers and exporters of this technology when we in the US came up with it? What would it look like if we could garner in on this industry?!
One of America’s core values, especially held dear by the conservatives (and incidentally, by me as well) is SELF-RELIANCE. If the government has any legitimate role in preventing or mitigating economic collapse, it ought to invest in this new and needed infrastructure. If anything, leaders, lead the nation towards self-sufficiency!
Renewable energy is the investment we should be making. Building and implementing the infrastructure could be the new driving force of our economy, our security, the health of our planet and ourselves and our children. This issue could bridge conservatives and progressives, environmentalists and businessmen, even Democrats and Republicans. Especially if businesses were to legitimately compete to secure any possible government investment (funding). This is the entry point for me, an independent. I just want a that steers us in the right direction. I want to feel secure. I just don’t in an economy based on fossil fuel.
Michael Bennet understands that renewable energy equals jobs, national security, self-reliance, and that it’s an important investment for our future, not only as Coloradans, but citizens of the United States. Investing in renewable energy is the responsible thing to do as citizens of this shared wide blue world.
In The Experience of “Negative Otherness”: How Shall We Treat Our Enemies (2002) psychologist Stephen Gilligan, Ph.D. argues for an alternative to dealing with our enemies rather than simply fighting or fleeing. He claims that these two options are often insufficient, limited in their effectiveness to resolve conflicts.
Your essence is good.
I will always remember this day as the day I joined 80k supporters of the delightful opposition, the tremendous outpouring of support for Barack Obama at Denver’s Civic Center Park. I took the light-rail train from my sleepy suburb, and more and more people filled up the train the closer we got to downtown. Obama shirts, button, signs… throngs of people emptied out of the train at the Convention Center to walk to the park. The line to the “entrance” was three blocks long, but it moved quickly, and I took the opportunity to buy the button I wanted from one of the guys with the button-boards, who walked along with me (backwards) as I held my glove in my teeth, getting a $5 bill for him all while walking with the line moving towards the Capitol Building and the adjacent park. Usually it is just filled with street folks and drug-dealers, the occasional library-going pedestrian… but today it was like the LOVE PARADE in Berlin! (sort of.) I climbed up a crab-apple tree to see the little ants that spoke at the podium. It was flat and hard to see from the outer stretches. The crowd reached like ocean all the way up Capitol Hill to the Governor’s Mansion up the way. 
We heard from our Democratic Representative Diana Degette, whom I met at a brunch I went to years ago when I was going through a high-point of political activism with my dad as my date. Our democratic senator Ken Salazar spoke a few words, and Mark Udall the “Boulder Liberal” running for Senate on the Democratic ticket, who is also pro-alternate energy, education, and bringing home our troops… And one of my favorites, popular Denver mayor business-man, democrat, micro-brew beer man (formerly a geologist) whom I worked for at the Wynkoop Brewing Company in the late nineties. He was a very nice absentee owner, who made pleasant appearances at the brew-pub now and then again. Later I also worked for him as a temp- addressing his wedding invitations by hand when he was our new mayor, and I went to a city-council/mayor meeting one morning when I interned for the City Councilwoman from my district. Just last Friday night we had a 20th anniversary Wynkoop reunion, and he was there, and hugged me! The nice man stayed until the end of the night when we were all ushered out, goons and all the familiar faces from a fun job I had years ago.
And then Barack Obama said inspiring, and intelligent things. He called for personal responsibility too, which the libertarian part of me likes, and YES! Let’s tweak the system out so that it includes more and more of us. YES, infrastructure, and community effort! I just love being inspired for once. I’m on board! 
Nina Lois is a graduate student at the University of Colorado at Denver obtaining a Master's Degree in Humanities with a B.A. in political science. Her passions are broad when it comes to the human condition. She is deeply interested in philosophy, psychology, environmental and social justice, peace studies, music, nutrition, tradition, and progress. 
Upon her imminent graduation, she wishes to contribute to the health, wealth, and happiness of the community through involvement, writing, and research. For goodness's sake, love the body, cultivate the mind and a garden, and feed the soul!
Thanks again