Must-Read: "Yes, They Could. So They Did."

Thomas Friedman had a great op-ed this weekend in the New York Times: "Yes, They Could. So They Did." In it, he recounts his experience meeting two young American women in New Delhi that are working to create solutions to the global warming crisis through tenacity and innovation.

Friedman encountered Caroline Howe and Alexis Ringwald when they offered to drive him around New Dehli in a plug-in electric car that was also powered by rooftop solar panels:

“India is full of climate innovators, so spread out across this huge country that many people don’t get to see that these solutions are working right now,” said Howe. “We wanted to find a way to bring people together around existing solutions to inspire more action and more innovation. There’s no time left to just talk about the problem.”

Howe and Ringwald thought the best way to do that might be a climate solutions road tour, using modified electric cars from India’s Reva Electric Car Company, whose C.E.O. Ringwald knew. They persuaded him to donate three of his cars and to retrofit them with longer-life batteries that could travel 90 miles on a single six-hour charge — and to lay on a solar roof that would extend them farther.

Between Jan. 1 and Feb. 5, they drove the cars on a 2,100-mile trip from Chennai to New Delhi, stopping in 15 cities and dozens of villages, training Indian students to start their own climate action programs and filming 20 videos of India’s top home-grown energy innovations. They also brought along a solar-powered band, plus a luggage truck that ran on plant oil extracted from jatropha and pongamia, plants locally grown on wasteland. A Bollywood dance group joined at different stops and a Czech who learned about their trip on YouTube hopped on with his truck that ran on vegetable-oil waste.

Friedman, describing his encounter with the women, then wrote:

After a year of watching adults engage in devastating recklessness in the financial markets and depressing fecklessness in the global climate talks, it’s refreshing to know that the world keeps minting idealistic young people who are not waiting for governments to act, but are starting their own projects and driving innovation.

It's great to see Friedman acknowledging the creative solutions young people are dreaming up and implementing to address some of the biggest problems facing our world today. Read the entire article and let us know what you think!

National Teach-In on Global Warming Today

Today is the National Teach-In on Global Warming, with events happening in cities and on campuses across the country. Find an event near you.

The Teach-In's not a one-day event only, though - organizers are holding weekly teach-ins and mobilizing around a 100 days of action to stop global warming. Check out the call schedule and the experts involved, from Jessy Tolkan and Billy Parish of the Energy Action Coalition to Van Jones and Ross Gelbspan.

VP Al Gore and Speaker Pelosi at Netroots Nation

Vice President Al Gore made a surprise visit to Netroots Nation this morning to talk about www.wecansolveit.org and challenge us to become 100% energy independent by switching to 100% renewable resources. He and Speaker Pelosi are sharing the stage right now, talking about some of the most important issues to young voters this election: the job market, the war in Iraq, and of course global warming.



The two have answered audience questions on everything from wind power to sending more care packages to our soldiers in Iraq. Nancy Pelosi gave a great response to a question about sex education. One audience member has just asked Speaker Pelosi if Congress accepts Vice President Gore's challenge.

Her answer: "It is absolutely possible."