Where the Ideas Are
One of the interesting things about watching this presidential race is to note where the good ideas are hiding (hint - it's not usually with the "frontrunners".)
This interview with Dennis Kucinicich http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/12/11/kucinich_qa/ is one example. People may laugh at him and call him kooky, and may even see some of the ideas in this interview as pretty out there, but what is of note is the bigness of some of the ideas, and the willingness to think in new paradigms as a way out of monumental problems.
An alternative view in this op-ed in the NY Times today - http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/07/real-action-on-climate-change/index.html?ref=opinion, is a reflection that we can think both big and small about monumental issues like global warming and sustainability of the planet, but that without real vision and leadership, as much as we would all like to do individually, it will likely always be a drop in the bucket without some big thinking and big change.
I've been trying to follow the discussion going on in Bali, as well as watching what our Congress has been (not) doing on this issue and it never fails to amaze me the failure of leadership that comes out of these consensus bodies.
There were public declarations that the recent energy bill (that stalled in the Senate) was some kind of major "breakthrough" on the energy front, as if merely raising fuel standards over a 20 year period to a level that still don't even match much of Europe or current hybrid technology was some kind of great accomplishment, or that moving tax dollars from oil based industries to subsidizing ethanol and biodiesels that have severe implications for food supplies and still contribute massively to carbon emissions through their transport to market is such a great idea.
As we begin a period of history where we may find wars starting over other scarce resources, like water, ideas like Kucinicich are putting forward may be the only way out of the trap we keep falling into as a species, where self-interest and corporate interest almost always trumps the common good.
This interview with Dennis Kucinicich http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/12/11/kucinich_qa/ is one example. People may laugh at him and call him kooky, and may even see some of the ideas in this interview as pretty out there, but what is of note is the bigness of some of the ideas, and the willingness to think in new paradigms as a way out of monumental problems.
An alternative view in this op-ed in the NY Times today - http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/07/real-action-on-climate-change/index.html?ref=opinion, is a reflection that we can think both big and small about monumental issues like global warming and sustainability of the planet, but that without real vision and leadership, as much as we would all like to do individually, it will likely always be a drop in the bucket without some big thinking and big change.
I've been trying to follow the discussion going on in Bali, as well as watching what our Congress has been (not) doing on this issue and it never fails to amaze me the failure of leadership that comes out of these consensus bodies.
There were public declarations that the recent energy bill (that stalled in the Senate) was some kind of major "breakthrough" on the energy front, as if merely raising fuel standards over a 20 year period to a level that still don't even match much of Europe or current hybrid technology was some kind of great accomplishment, or that moving tax dollars from oil based industries to subsidizing ethanol and biodiesels that have severe implications for food supplies and still contribute massively to carbon emissions through their transport to market is such a great idea.
As we begin a period of history where we may find wars starting over other scarce resources, like water, ideas like Kucinicich are putting forward may be the only way out of the trap we keep falling into as a species, where self-interest and corporate interest almost always trumps the common good.
posted by Paul Salinger at 2:34 PM
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