The Summit On Clean Tech Law & The New Energy Policy

windpowerMy friend, attorney Leslie Williams, of Shaub and Williams, has been busy for the past few months putting together a big Renewable Energy Law Summit at the Southwestern Law School in L.A. and it takes place next week, on Sept 18.

If it wasn’t my 52nd birthday and I wasn’t already volunteering for the South Bay Environmental Services Center that day in Lawndale, I’d be there – because the lineup Leslie’s put together is pretty terrific:

Superstars of AB 811 Rock Palm Desert @ EcoMotion Conference

Part I – Burning Man’s Got Nothing On This “World Changing Revolutionary Movement”

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Left: Bob Williams, Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets Right: Cisco DeVries, Renewable Funding

You know you’re at some kind of  special conference when all the sessions seem to end way too soon and the eight hour agenda blasts by like the all star jam session at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame dinner.

But that’s the way it felt to the Creative Greenius as I covered the EcoMotion Palm Desert AB 811 Conference on Friday at the University of California Riverside Graduate Center. Admittedly I am a geek when it comes to AB 811 type programs that give people loans to put solar on their roof and add energy efficiency to their homes.  And I tend to get a little fired up when I’m around people who actually make things happen instead of just pontificating about it.  Imagine that…

EcoMotion’s President, Ted Flanigan made sure Friday was one of those rare days filled with all substance and no smoke, mirrors or dog & pony shows.  What an exhilarating difference a well organized and smartly thought-out lineup can make. Just ask Los Angeles Lakers Basketball fans.

Solar Powered Greenius Producing Massive South Bay Energy

Marilyn Lyon of the SBESC with your Creative Greenius at the PV Street Fair June 7
Marilyn Lyon of the SBESC with your Creative Greenius at the PV Street Fair June 7

As our climate change crisis worsens and spins out of control with each passing day there’s no time to spare for those of us whose job it is to educate and motivate our fellow citizens to actions that cut our greenhouse gas emissions.  I’m talking about committed environmental journalist/activists like myself who believe we have a responsibility to play more than a stenographers role in covering the single greatest threat to our civilization of our lifetimes.

That’s just one reason I spent 12 hours on behalf of the South Bay Environmental Services Center talking to people at the Palos Verdes Street Fair last weekend.  And when you hear the questions folks ask at events like these you instantly realize just  how little people know and understand about what’s happening to our climate and their world.  Most have no idea.  It’s not their fault either – their local governments and the mainstream media have failed them big time.  That’s certainly the case here in Torrance, California where I live and work.

The good news is that positive things ARE happening and our efforts are starting to make a difference.  It’s all happening excruciatingly too slowly of course, and at the pace we’re currently on we are quite simply as doomed as doomed can be – but in the meantime it IS starting to happen and the first signs of momentum are now starting to show.  As all Lakers and NBA fans know, if you’ve got Mr. Momentum wearing your jersey you’re going to go on a scoring run.  It’s a slam dunk.