Clean Power

Published on April 15th, 2009 | by Frank Sesno

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Welcome To Planet Forward: From Your Lens To The White House Gates

April 15th, 2009 by Frank Sesno 

Editor’s Note: This post is a guest contribution by Frank Sesno, Emmy-award winning journalist and former CNN Bureau Chief. ”Planet Forward” is an innovative, viewer-driven program driven by the power of ideas, as citizens make their case for what they think about the nation’s energy future. The show debuts TONIGHT (8pm), in a primetime PBS special. See Frank Sesno’s last post for CleanTechnica here.

What we’re hearing at Planet Forward is rumbles of a revolution.

Some expressions are serious, some are humorous. There are essays and poems and songs. But in almost all cases, if we take this stuff at face value, we’re hearing calls for an overthrow of the old ways we drive, work, travel, get around.  

A revolution in technology and green jobs to reduce carbon emissions, deal with climate change and improve our security.  A revolution in the energy marketplace to knock the oil-igarchs around the world down a notch.  Coincidentally, this is the bottom line of Barack Obama’s hugely ambitious energy program.  And it’s what citizens and experts alike weigh in on here at Planet Forward.  

This is a place where everyone has the chance to make their case about how we use energy, where our future energy should be, and how we should think about the issue.  We’ve heard from scientists and students, CEO’s and cab drivers, defenders of coal and oil as well as advocates of wind and solar.   We’ve even got a few politicians making their case!  It’s an orchestra of voices.

What makes Planet Forward different is that we connect some of the best ideas  – rated by the online community and reviewed by our Planet Forward editorial staff –directly to decision-makers.  Some go straight to the White House.  We do all this in a prime-time television special on PBS and through follow-on webisodes here at planetforward.org.  What’s most striking is how seriously the experts take the ideas and experiences of people out in the ‘real world.’  As they should.  

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Tags: barack obama, Carol Browner, Energy, Frank Sesno, Green Collar Economy, PBS, Planet Foward, user generated content, Van Jones, video

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Frank Sesno

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