Following up the VP

I was part of a panel of four speakers last night for an organization called Repower America. At least it was supposed to be four of us. 

The day before the panel, we found out former Vice President Al Gore would be joining us by conference call at the beginning of the meeting (he’s chair of the We Campaign, which is the parent organization of Repower America). Al spoke for about 15 minutes about the Cap and Trade bill that is making it’s way through congress right now (you can tell your congress representative what you think very easily by calling 1-877-9-REPOWER, no matter where you live). It was a national conference call with members of Repower America, and we just happened to be holding our event at the same time. So, he gave a shout out to Sioux Falls. 

I was scheduled to go first on the panel, to talk about the Sioux Falls Green Project and changing the way we talk locally about sustainability. So, with the late addition of the Vice President, I got to follow up Al Gore. Crazy.

It was a good event, and I learned some things and made great new friends. Others on the panel were my friend Randy Parry from the Rural Learning Center, Matt McClarty from the Environmental Law and Policy Institute, and Ned from Repower America. Plus Al Gore…