A Splash of Green for the Rust Belt

I do believe that renewable energy has the potential to save the U.S. from it's burgeoning demise at the hands of the financial sector. Don't ask me how I know this. It's just a gut feeling. We are about to go into a deep dark hole of a recession/depression/whatever you want to call it. Oil is a finite supply. Wind and solar are not. We can either reinvent ourselves as a country and fully embrace and build a clean tech economy or we can keep our heads in the sand (literally and figuratively) and watch ourselves swirl down the proverbial toilet.

Just read about the folks in Newton, Iowa who watched their jobs building Maytag washing machines migrate across the Pacific. It's been happening all over this country. Year after year adn decade after decade. The smart and determined ones adapt and find new sources of employment. In the Times article, Mr. Versendaal is an example of the smart and determined ones. Here's a line from this optimistic local in Newton, Iowa who works at the new wind turbine plant and whose dose of common sense towards clean technology is quite refreshing:

“Life’s not over,” Mr. Versendaal says. “For 35 years, I pounded my body to the ground. Now, I feel like I’m doing something beneficial for mankind and the United States. We’ve got to get used to depending on ourselves instead of something else, and wind is free. The wind is blowing out there for anybody to use.”

Let's hope that there are more Mr. Versendaal's out there in all of the decimated manufacturing towns across this country. We are in trouble if there's not.