From the Carbon Age to the Solar Age

[Charles Adler]

Today Van Jones, an advisor to President Obama, had very encouraging things to say about the future of energy in this country. Speaking to students at Bentley College in Waltham, Jones said, "The good news is that we can beat this global recession and global warming at the same time. We can beat poverty and pollution at the same time... and you're the solution. You will be the generation of innovators, of entrepreneurs, of problem solvers, of people who throw away this old tired distinction between public service and private gain and come up with new social enterprises that have multiple effects."

Jones, Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said "There's a nexus that this president sees between doing right by the earth and doing right by the economy."

"For this president to pick up this economy and take it out of carbon age and put it into the solar age, he's going to need your help," he continued. "Somewhere out there, somebody has a Google or a Yahoo or a Microsoft in their mind for energy... and we have the opportunity and obligation to create the rules that will let our new energy leaders compete."

It's also encouraging to hear the concept of social entrepreneurship being promoted. We need to create a new generation of entrepreneurs driven not by a desire for private gain, but by a commitment to our shared interests.

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