Leaner and Greener

Welcome to Planet Change.

It's already happening. The world is evolving. The planet is about to exhale. Can you hear it? Listen...that rustling in the trees. Those are the winds of change. We can hunker down now and hope for the best. Or we can put up the jib and sail!

These are amazing times.

Just last month New York City's Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, announced one of the most comprehensive and progressive energy initiatives ever advanced by a policymaker. The mayor got a lot of attention for his threat of an $8.00 charge on vehicles traveling in downtown Manhattan. But Bloomberg's plan also calls for establishing a New York City Energy Planning Board, committing 10% of the annual energy spending on raising efficiency, strengthening building and energy codes, generous incentives for upgrading and retrofitting buildings to new standards, expansion of real-time pricing and peak load management for energy use, an energy awareness and training campaign, even a property tax abatement for the installation of solar panels. This is forward thinking and we should applaud Mayor Bloomberg for his efforts.

The writing has been on the wall for some time. If nothing else, perhaps the Iraq war has finally pushed us to see how desperately we need to gain independence from oil producing nations. And president-not-to-be Al Gore has done the lion's share of work in raising the awareness of just how dire things are. But all is not doom and gloom. This is opportunity writ large.

In the coming weeks and months Planet Change will let you know what's happening. We'll talk to the leaders in the energy industry, the scientists and policymakers, the activists and the oilmen. We'll try to put it all into perspective. And let you be the judge.

It's a big, big world with lots to discover. The only thing that's certain is change. We look forward to having you back.