The state of our union.

Well it's finally happened. An American President has finally admitted that we have to go green. I am SO glad I had written my last blog post before the State of the Union address. I feel like I wrote down some directions and President Obama was happy to include some of them as suggestions to the American people. While there are as many critics as supports on the Presidents State of the Union address, everyone has to agree that at part of what the President said is true. While it seems that the Americans I have spoken to mostly agree on the issues that the President presented, there still appears to be a hint of hesitancy that comes with such a large statement. The American public seems to be convinced that we must progress forward, but everyone is concerned that the government will be unable to weaken the gap between the Republican and Democratic discourse. Yet what Obama said is true. Despite you're political affiliation, no American can disagree that we have been stuck in a rut the past few years. Previously to that, we were rapidly declining downward. I couldn't agree with Obama more: we need to "out-educate and out-innovate" every other country. We need to put the states back on top. While others seemed doubtful that the President had a direct plan in action, I inferred otherwise. Or at least chose to. So here's the things that I saw as the most exciting in the President's speech, and the things that I would most like to see happen. I know healthcare and border control don't make my list, but for the time being these are the three things that must start happening NOW!

1. Cutting the Crap- The trend in recent American economics has been to spend, spend, spend. Whether it's developing military intel, bailing out banks, or covering the losses on defaulted loans, the only thing the government has done with money has been to essentially toss it to the wind. Obama seemed to make it clear that we have to move away from this trend, and into an area of smart spending, not savings. Giving money to the richest companies in the world (oil)? Cut. Giving tax aid to the wealthy? Cut.Decreasing reckless government spending? Cut. This seems to be well and good to me. If the American citizen can't take their credit card on a shopping spree and buy everything they want the American government shouldn't be able to either.

2. Investing in The Future- Finally, my favorite of all i-words makes it onto the scene. Innovation! While I had become convinced that the US was going to stay in the stagnation of the steel age, I am now feeling slightly more hopeful that our President has noticed our export system has remained pretty much unchanged since things were "black and white". I couldn't agree more. I remember the awe I felt when moving to London and seeing how much bigger Piccadilly seemed compared to Times Square. Then, I remember going to Shanghai, and being in 1 out of about 20 different city centers. I remember seeing TV's on every skyscraper, not just one. I remember seeing entire cities lined with solar panels, not just streets. I remember seeing people buying luxury goods. Seeing the cities boom. I saw the opposite of the states. If China can develop the latest energies going around the red tape of a communist government, then the United States should be most definitely able to put there heads together to come up with some sort of innovation scheme in order to compete in the global political economy. For the states, let's combine our first goal with our second. Let's cut the spending in the Middle East and put it into creating new technologies that make new jobs.

3. Reorganization- Finally, someone realized just how confusing our government is. For a country that complains about the complicated, bureaucratic, and socialized systems of Europe, we have more departments than any foreign nation I have encountered. As a recent college graduate, I wasn't even sure where to look to apply for government jobs. I wanted to do the environment, but not protection. EPA? No, Agricultural. No, exports, because of trade and environment. No, this one, this one, holy moly. Let's lump together the departments that deal with each other, if for no other reason than to create some more similarities between the Republicans and Democrats. While people become heated and passionate against people they do not typically work with, the past two weeks have shown heated rivalries becoming strong alliances. Although it may be hard to envision certain government members working together, at the end of the day they will be educated on similar issues and will provide the checks and balances that our nation was built upon. Perhaps we can introduce some cuts here too. Combining buildings and departments? Less room for upkeep.

These are the first three steps our now toddler of a nation needs to take. If take these steps we can hope for some small changes within our economy to occur, and can really begin to move forward. Accompanying innovation will be the natural twin of education. With a demand for new industries and the creation of new jobs, the public will need higher education and stronger certifications to be able to compete on the national job market. A better trained public becomes a more efficient public, and with that we can hope to produce more products for exports. More exports, more international attention and cooperation. And for me, this will be how America comes back on top. Back to the age of international decency and back to the age of excitement. I don't want to be scared or nervous about being an American. I shouldn't have to expect my only job market to be in Europe. As a 24 year old PhD student I should be excited about my return to the states, and hopeful for the opportunities that await me there. So let's make it happen.

In every school of political thought there comes a need for some sort of revolution. Some people interpret this as violent, others as ideological. Regardless, every system acknowledges that there must be periods of transition in government that are spurred by the interests of the public. As Americans, let's set an example. Show the government that we can go green. Let's cut down on driving a bit. Take some bags to the grocery store. Cut down on one red-meat meal a week. Recycle. Buy locally. Buy organically. Clean sustainably. Go green.

And so it begins....

I have been toying with the idea of creating a blog for my work purposes for quite some time. I debated between the positivity of getting my thoughts across to at least a few new people, and the negativity of having to write yet another new thing every day. Yesterday's post-holiday "catch up" finally drove me to the edge of positivity, and here I am today, writing my first "Go Green" blog post. After hours of frustration with a few of my family members, I decided I had had enough. If conservative America refused to listen to me, then perhaps a few members of my family could take the time to read my thoughts on the political economy, and maybe even come to understand a glimpse of what I have been working on.

Allow me to explain. I am an American. Nothing interesting in terms of nationality or ethnicity, just a good ol' fashioned American. Although I grew up mainly on the East Coast, my father's relocation to the Southwestern part of the US had a pretty large influence on my life. After spending years traipsing through the long, cold winters of Southwestern Pennsylvania, an escape to the desert was everything my sun-hungry soul had been looking for. Wide-open spaces, expansive skies, and a sun you could actually feel on your face...it was the America I had never seen, but had always been looking for. The pure awesomeness of the nature in the Southwest was so daunting, that it left quite an impression on me. I couldn't believe there was so much to do outside. Forget about paying for wilderness adventures, in the Southwest people just took them. It seemed to me that everyone went camping, fishing, hiking, kayaking, and even skiing all of the time. As a sworn city kid, I was actually quite surprised that I enjoyed myself so much exploring the great outdoors. I suppose it was here that the first seeds of sustainability began to sink in....

I didn't become an environmentalist right away. In fact, the day I realized I was somewhat of a "tree-hugger" came totally by surprise to me. Although I majored in Politics and Economics, and had considered myself somewhat moderate (yet registered liberal) I knew that when it came down to it, I really was much more conservative than even I wanted to admit. After a few internships in Politics, I had switched my affiliation to the Republican party, and for me the most pressing of issues was the war in Iraq, the crashing economy, and the increasing amount of jobless Americans. The environment never made it onto my top-ten list of concerns.

I believe it was my commencement of a Master's course that caused the light-bulb to turn on in my head, when I realized the connection between the environment and well, everything. My course was intense, focusing on International Politics, and, for me, the Global Political Economy. After weeks of studying war after war, and conflict after conflict, it seemed that every modern conflict had one connection: oil. The war in Iraq, the war in Kuwait, the American debt to China, blah blah blah, everything seemed to come back to the inability of Americans to move away from oil, and away from conflict. After arguing with one of my teachers for the umpteenth time about the American presence in Afghanistan, I finally admitted my frustration and questioned how we would ever get out of the lull my nation seemed to be in. I realized we had to go green. Not just because I liked to hike, or because I think koala bears are adorable, but because I was sick of hearing my post-graduate friends discussing the job opportunities with the dread similar to the drafting of Vietnam. For me, America had to get back on top. The economy has to resurrect itself. And here was the lightbulb: If the US was a bit greener, we would have less concerns about the Middle-East. Smaller concerns about the Middle-East, smaller budgets needed for Military spending. More money for schools, more money for jobs. More jobs= more people spending money= greater American economy.

And so I went green.

I'm not here to lecture people on what they should or shouldn't do in terms of their personal life. But I am here to share a few tid-bits that have made me lean towards becoming more environmentally concerned, and more sustainably active. Hope I'm not a bore.