Monday, July 28th, 2008
Netroots Nation Day 4: Break It Down
Although the official schedule called for Day 4 to start with an Interfaith service, I decided to skip it and come in on the closing keynote. And thank goodness for that. The closing keynote speaker, civil rights and environmental activist Van Jones, gave a powerful speech about the need for a green economy, and the crucial role that the netroots can and should help play in making that a reality. In particular, he noted that it was “interesting” that when demand for oil and other fossil fuels increases, the cost rises, whereas when the same happens in the renewable energy market, the cost drops. Towards the end of the speech, Jones “[Compared] the task of unraveling the impact of 50 years of a conservative agenda to ‘cleaning a barn with a straw,’” (in the words of the Austin Chronicle — and I should note that he also pantomimed said cleaning to humorous effect) and that “an Obama victory in November would be the beginning, not the end, of that ongoing battle against reactionary ideologues.”
Indeed.
I should point out at this point that before Van Jones gave his frank words of advice and encouragement to the netroots, the fine folks at the Group News Blog came up to announce the awarding of the first annual Steve Gilliard Grant of Merit to Dr. Michael Shaw of BAGnewsNotes.
Final Thoughts
All in all, I enjoyed Netroots Nation. The panels were very informative, and it was very exciting to meet the people that I’d only known from reading their blogs until now. I can’t wait to attend next year’s convention in Pittsburgh. In a way, it will be like a homecoming for me.
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