One of the most important research and development efforts in the world today is the quest for the perfect battery to power electric cars.  We all know that there is global warming, air pollution, and an increasing dependence on imported oil.  We know that petroleum is a finite resource that will be depleted in this century.  We live in a country whose culture and functionality is so dependent on the automobile that an alien might think the car is the dominant form of life.  Therefore, the solution to all of these problems and situations is to reinvent how the 200+ million vehicles in this country are powered. 

It has been 120 years since the internal combustion engine was invented and first utilized for a personal mode of transportation.  In that time, the 20th century, practically every technological aspect of our lives has been consistently upgraded, changed or replaced by a new invention.  Not so the power train of the automobile, which, at its essence, is still the mechanical, internal combustion engine we were using in 1900.
This then is the historical context for what the automotive industry and many of its suppliers are attempting to do regarding the invention of an electric power source for all the vehicles we drive. As readers of this blog know, I had been invited by General Motors to meet with some of their top management last month prior to the Chicago Auto Show.  In follow-up to that, GM invited me …

One of the very first posts I made in this blog over a year ago was “Praise the Lord, not Petroleum”.  It discussed the very public and high profile actions a significant number of Evangelical Christian organizations were taking to fight global warming.  Their underlying argument is simple: if the Earth, and all living things are god’s creation, we should not destroy it and them with global warming. 

This position was part of the tipping point in consciousness around global warming that occurred last year.  To have some of the most morally conservative groups in the country take an aggressive stand on global warming helped to change the political dialogue on the subject.  In the short recent history of the environmental movement, most of the ‘green’ advocates have come from the liberal left.  To have a new, committed, and very influential force join in from the right was a new, profound dynamic in the global warming discussion, particularly in the political realm.

One of the foremost evangelical leaders advocating full participation in the effort to slow global warming is Rev. Richard Cizik, the VP for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals.  Having had a ‘profound conversion’ in 2002 listening to scientists during a retreat, Cizik has been able to generate significant support from his constituency to lobby and work on efforts to slow, and  reverse, global warming.

Last week, leaders of several conservative groups sent the National Association of Evangelicals a letter urging the organization to stop Cizik from speaking …

We are now into the global stage of humanity’s evolution.  When viewed over the span of the past 10,000 years it is clear that we have moved from tribe to village to city, to state, to country to planet.  In speeches I give around the country I discuss this “Flow to Global” as one of the forces currently reshaping and restructuring the world.

This reorganization into a global economy and market place has, can, and will cause pain at the local level.  Industrial Age manufacturing businesses in this country have been moved offshore to lower cost countries.  Call centers open in India and the Philippines. As individuals we have to understand our economic value is increasingly measured on the global stage.  Unfortunately, our political leaders seem to be reactive and pander to those in pain rather than provide new direction. What can local communities do to stay robust, promote community and still be a part of this global trend? 

Great Barrington, Massachusetts has come up with an answer that is creative, fun and sounds like it might actually work.  This town is in the Berkshire Mountains.  A number of local businesses have agreed to accept an alternative currency called BerkShares and to give a discount of ten percent to those who use them.  These alternative bills have different people on them than the dead presidents and statesmen on US currency.  Herman Melville is on the twenty, Norman Rockwell on the fifty, Robyn Wan En a champion of locally supported agriculture is on …

There was an article the other day in the paper with the headline “Phoenix Plans 24-Lane Highway”. The article described the plan to widen a two mile stretch of Interstate 10 in Phoenix to 24 lanes.  In each direction there would be six general purpose lanes, two high-occupancy lanes and then four lanes for local traffic.  The article went on to mention several other giant highway proposals around the country such as an expansion to18 lanes in Houston and 23 lanes in Atlanta. 

The reason for all this highway expansion is to ease gridlock that city planners are increasingly saying could stunt economic growth.  Leaders in metro areas around the country are worried that traffic congestion is an obstacle for them to ‘compete’ economically with other cities.  This implies that, as one city expands its highway system, other cities will feel compelled to do the same.  This is a competition to see who can pave over the greatest amount of land so that internal combustion engine vehicles can move more easily as they pollute the air, powered by ever more expensive petroleum purchased from countries that fund terrorism. …