Obama’s Energy Plan: Do emerging technologies and a green economy mix?

Tucson Green Times   -  Issue March 15- April 15, 2009

Published  March 23, 2009

By Mae Lee Sun

Yes he did and I was there.  In that human sea of two million on a sunny, 20 degree day in D.C. to testify to the fact that indeed, a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens, neighborhood to neighborhood and email to email, can in fact change the world.

Although awe inspiring in it’s historic ramifications, as tiny American flags were waived in the air and babies of all colors were held to the sky in homage to a brighter, more culturally, racially and economically diverse future, and while I cried, my friends cried and the whole darn mass around us cried, the Inauguration of the first black president went far beyond a kumbaya moment.  That would trivialize the power of the people who, one by one, felt they had voted for change, hope and what is in the best interest of humanity over self-interest, fear and planetary destruction.

Photo by Carrie Abels

So now that it seems we’ve picked the right person for the job, who and what is responsible for translating our voted for hopes and values into action? Action that will bring forth the dream of a sustainable future and green economy?  And how long is this plan going to take?  After all, our new president is just one guy, albeit a truly exceptional one.  But he has neither the time nor ability to clone himself into a mass of thousands to execute the task at hand- putting one million hybrid cars on the road that get 150 miles per gallon on the road by 2015; to implement cap-and-trade to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050; to create five million new (green) jobs by investing 150 billion over the next 10 years into private business to build clean energy; and the list of initiatives he’s committed to goes on.
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Farmhouse Zen

Whole Terrain: Journal of Reflective Environmental Practice

Published July  2008

By Mae Lee Sun

At 5:20 a.m., an attendant walks through the Zen center, ringing a bell to wake up the day and the handful of sleepy students –already roused by the roosters-who chose to sleep on site.  There was only thirty minutes to prepare for zazen, a practice in which we sit silent but attentive on our round black cushions meditating on koans (questions that can only be solved by circumventing logic) or following our breath for most of the day as a way to still our minds. Soon I am sitting with the rest of the students. The thick summer air in the room carries the foreign scent of the horse farm where the zendo is located.  Despite the earthy immediacy of the smell, my mind is unable to get out of its own way to see life for what it is- that we, in essence, are the whole Universe.  After fourteen years of practice, I am clearly still a beginner.

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Home Grown: Insight into some of Tucson’s green cottage industry makers

By Mae Lee Sun, Inside Tucson Business
Published on Monday, March 02, 2009

For budding green entrepreneurs, it seems to start with an idea.

An idea based on connection with something larger than oneself, where values of sourcing materials sustainably, focusing locally and keeping ethics at the forefront translate into action- action which generates a product or service that will benefit the whole in the long rather than short term and tend to be free of any ties to the larger grid of business as usual.

Despite the state of the economy, the green industry and emerging technology fields are generally on the upswing, especially in Tucson and where down-home ingenuity, creativity and independence have come together in the creation of some cottage industries focusing on such things as landscaping, spices and interior design.

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