Green Leaf Report

T. Boone Pickens came out with the Pickens Plan  for reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil this week. It seemed to hit every newspaper, website and television station around.  I’ve written about him several times before- there are always parts of his plans that I agree with, and parts I’m concerned about.  But that’s all moot- I want to thank him for making energy a larger part of the media’s conversation in an election year. 

I know he’s had an impact because my mom called me the other night and told me she had heard about the Pickens Plan on the news.  She said, “I didn’t understand everything, but it sounded pretty good.” My mom, who sees my views as overly idealistic and youthful, heard a man that she’s willing to respect talk about reducing our dependency on foreign oil and making more investments in renewable and cleaner energy.  She heard the part about him being a lifelong Republican and oilman. She heard the part about his being worth $4Bm and being 80 years old, and how he thinks this is the right thing, and he wants to put his money where his mouth is and do the right thing for the country.

My mom may or may not be representative of the baby boomer generation.  She thinks climate change is an illusion of the liberal media; she thinks coal isn’t so bad and remembers when it was delivered to her apartment building’s basement as a child; she generally doesn’t see any need for disruptive change.  But she heard T. Boone Pickens and called me, and thought he sounded pretty good.  So thank you Mr. Pickens, for making more people aware of causes and possible solutions for our nation’s energy crisis.  Whether or not your plan is perfect doesn’t matter. The conversation has begun.