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What do you think is the most effective way to turn this idea into real policy? Add your suggestions here for how you think we should run an advocacy campaign to advance the idea – including the overall strategy, messaging, targets, and tactics.

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  1. Barry Benjamin

    I feel it is imperative that the transition team AND the people that eventually work in President-elect Obama's administration understand that sustainability is NOT just about the environment. Sustainability is applicable to all aspects of our society. Ms. Karen Wright has spoken about the First Peoples ability to use energy sustainably and how much they can teach us about how this is done. They also have a tremendous amount of understanding and knowledge about how a society can be sustainable. The nation of tribes that were living in North America at the time of the last European invasion were living mostly at PEACE with each other. One of the reasons for this was their ability to accept sustainable ideas and perspectives about how to live their individual lives. If that is not enough for the doubters and skeptics in around you then take a look at how nature configures the societies of plants, fishes, microbes, viruses, insects and other animals that seem to get along with each other in a way that ALLOWS them to be sustainable for generations upon generations. There is also another component to sustainability that is NOT talked about at all and that is the spiritual one. Sustainability follows a lead from a power greater than us or even sustainability itself. This 'spiritual' power is not religious in any kind of way but is more about the process of faith (which I have heard does not require facts) and trust (which I have heard does require facts or information). A scientist can easily explain where and how electricity works. They are having a very difficult time explaining why we have a thing called electricity or gravity or matter or light or any of the natural occurring 'things' around us (and for that matter why we know that they are there). An atheist might say it is because it just is, but that is not an explanation of why it is just the best answer they can come up with at the time. Most any other person would say because of a power greater than us. Again that is not really an explanation of why it just is the best answer we can come up with at this time. Even a mathematical explanation does not give a why because it cannot give an explanation of why mathematics exist using itself as an explanation. Suffice to say that being sustainable is more than just using less energy, reducing the amount of plastic we buy, reusing those milk cartons as grocery bags and recycling all the aluminum cans at your home and local restaurant. One of the best things about sustainability is that the positive results grow exponentially so that 2+2 adds up to more than 4. All of the best 10 ideas end up becoming a part of a process that results in increased sustainability for our society and nation. I hope and pray that you can SEE that putting us on this path is the greatest single thing you can do for not only the United States of America but for our planet. 

    Suggested by Barry Benjamin on 01/17/2009 @ 02:10PM PT

  2. Michelle Miller

    Please engage our public Universities in this effort. They are busting with bright young talent, ready to take on such a task. Nothing would be more empowering to our next generation of leaders than to let them envision their future. Many campuses are tapping into mid-career faculty and staff, now taking seriously their efforts to let campuses reflect our best intentions for sustainability. These mid-career people are poised to help the rubber hit the road and are positioned to mentor students.

    Suggested by Michelle Miller on 01/17/2009 @ 11:40AM PT

  3. In order to be a sustainable nation, we must eat sustainably. This means weaving into this one, 3 of the runner-up Ideas For Change:
    -Protect Our Food Supply - Stop NAIS! (6,568 votes)
    ---http://www.change.org/ideas/view/stop_nais

    -Legalize Raw Milk: (5,178 votes)
    ---http://www.change.org/ideas/view/legalize_milk

    -Victory Gardens 2.0: (3308 votes)
    ---http://www.change.org/ideas/view/green_the_white_house

    These ideas protect small farmers who help us keep food local, clean and safely produced and are INDISPENSABLE in any conversation about sustainability.

    Suggested by Anne Buzzelli, MS RD on 01/17/2009 @ 11:33AM PT

  4. Elizabeth Seyler

    Sustainable agriculture practices should be central to this initiative.  Sustainable and organic agriculture practices have been used in the US for more than 20 years and in Europe for much longer, proving that we can grow food in ways that are environmentally sound, economically viable, and socially responsible.  Any efforts for sustainability must include our food system, which is a huge industry affecting all aspects of our lives and the globe. 
    For more information, please visit these sites: http://www.sare.org/
    http://www.sustainableagriculture.net/site/PageServer?pagename=NCSA_Home

    -Elizabeth S., Ph.D.

    Suggested by Elizabeth Seyler on 01/17/2009 @ 10:05AM PT

  5. Claudia "Dela" Ends

     We must not forget the important role agriculture has in our country's sustainability.  We need to end federal subsidies for huge corporate corn, soybean, rice & wheat operations and inhumane confined animal feeding operations that comsume huge amounts of fossil fuel, degrade the earth, pollute our water and waste our tax dollars. 
    Sustainable and organic farming practices should be encouraged and rewarded.  Food should be grown closer to home, not transported 2000 miles from producer to consumer as most of our food is today.  Processed corn  food products are causing many health problem in our country inluding obesity and diabetes. 
    The health of our agricultural system will directly impact the health of our people, our economy and our environment.

    Suggested by Claudia "Dela" Ends on 01/17/2009 @ 10:00AM PT

  6. Mac McCabe

    Paul hit the nail on the head, you have to use the free market capitalism to your advantage.  As long as you price the cost of carbon emmission and pollution in general correctly, alternative energy and sustainable practices will immediately follow.

    The big question is what is the price/tax on what type of pollution.  This is an important number system due to the economic ramifications taking into account a global economy.  If we can't pollute here, we will go somewhere else and pollute.

    Suggested by Mac McCabe on 01/17/2009 @ 05:41AM PT

  7. Oliver Scott

    Broadband the whole nation. Mark Warner did it for Virginia, bringing the power of the internet to the most remote regions of his state. We should prepare our country for the future and broadband the entire nation. See this recent article in Business Week for just such a proposal: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_04/b4117000800166.htm

    Broadband would make our economy more sustainable by making production more efficient. Just as the TVA brought the benefits of modern technology to the South, now we can bring the entire nation up to speed with broadband internet access. 

    Suggested by Oliver Scott on 01/17/2009 @ 04:58AM PT

  8. Bea Elliott

    I agree with Paul: "Also, all species should be provided their safety net too by protecting large areas of habitat from human destruction."  And add that the damages done to the eco system through livestock gasses and damage from manure lagoons should be monitored/taxed accordingly.  No more deforestation for grazing cattle.  And a need to convert to sustainable crops that use less water and other valuable resources than the waste that animal agriculture is responsible for... This would all be change for good :)  

    Suggested by Bea Elliott on 01/16/2009 @ 10:59PM PT

  9. D K

    One individual mentioned hemp for fuel, which is highly commendable, but hemp is much more versatile than just that.  Aside from having a negligible THC content, which is what scares members of congress (one of my senators quotes the infernal DEA whenever I breech the topic), it can also be used for fabrics, paper and building materials.  Joseph Pulitzer had it made illegal when it competed with his forest products industry near the turn of the 20th century, but during World War Two, it became mandatory to grow it to support the war effort, but after the war it became illegal to grow once again.  It has no recreational drug value, although it resembles marijuana as it is in the same genus, but that is where things end.  The tomato and the deadly nightshade are in the same genus, and while you can eat one, the other would kill you outright.  It’s not only sustainable, it scrubs atmospheric carbon dioxide and doesn’t take nearly as long to grow for paper and building materials as do trees.  Legalize the growth of industrial hemp in America, as there most definitely is a call for it.  And we DO NOT want any GMO varieties!
    http://www.thehia.org  The Hemp Industry Association

    Suggested by D K on 01/16/2009 @ 10:16PM PT

  10. David Malmo-Levine


    What we need now is a form of renewable fuel that can replace gasoline but not add to climate change, oil wars or pollution.

    Hemp ethanol can - at 50 cents a gallon. I suggest everyone read the following article I wrote on the subject:

    http://hemp-ethanol.blogspot.com/

    Feel free to contact me if you have any questions:

    malmolevine@gmail.com

    Suggested by David Malmo-Levine on 01/16/2009 @ 07:59PM PT

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