Netroots Nation '08 (my view)

So that was Netroots Nation '08. Interesting at many, many levels. And, useful at all of those levels, also.

Skinny, fat, tall, short, intellectual and me. All in one place for the purpose of interacting on our favorite subjects. Politics to be sure, since that is the nature of the beast. But, within that very large area, a whole host of topics to delved into.

Science was a large part of the equation, since it impacts so many facets of our day to day lives. And, I must say, those people know well their subjects. But, they know a helluva lot more than just their personal little slice. They are able to hold forth on a whole range of subjects from evolutionary biology to the atmosphere and from geology to atronomy.

However, I must say, the most interesting things to me concerned the real things that we can and should be doing for our planet and it's temperature. The best discussion I was involved in came after one of the science panels. It involved one ASiegel who is a regular on DKOS and is a principal with Energize America. The discussion covered several subjects, but the one that intrigued me most was the one that involved school buses and changing the environmental problems that plague schools.

The first idea is that school buses must be turned green. We did in fact see one of the dozen buses being tested throughout the country. This one happened to reside in Austin and thus was easy for us to get ahold of. Since they run most of the year and spend a lot of time sitting, the premise is that they would be one of the easier ways to cut down on energy use. And, the selling point, they would cut down on the amount of pollutants reaching our children every day.

The second is that heating and cooling could be a lot more efficient in most of the schools we have open right now. One idea I thought intrigueing was the one of planting on the rooftops. It would have immeiate impact on both heating and cooling, and could be used to, at least part of the time, be used to grow food for the young occupants.

Was I impressed with NN '08? You bet your ass. It was well put together and well presented. It brought about 4,000 political boggers together into one place and offered them the chance to learn and give their opinions to a whole group of like minded people. Is that a big deal? See the answser to the first question in this paragraph. This now the main stream media. This is becoming how the world is to gain information about the surrounding world. The traditional media becomes more and more fox like and irrelevant. Does this really matter? We all certainly believe it does. And, our candidates, who are more and more aligning with us believe it to.

Can't wait for NN '09 in Pittsburgh, PA.