Today’s episode is a bit different; this isn’t so much a current event.  This year, 2008, a great performer passed away.  His name was George Carlin.  He’s best known for one of his comic routines, known as the Seven Words.

I’m not going to repeat the words for you, because if I’ve done my job as a parent, you know it’s not nice to say those words in polite company.  Hopefully, though, I have also taught you that there is a time and a place to use those words.  I know that whether or not you exercise them carefully, you’ll definitely find occasion to use them.

Part of the idea of this act was to highlight the silliness of the existence of the words.  To this day, the seven words he refers to are not allowed to be broadcast on network television, or radio.  They are considered obscene and offensive speech, and as such, are not protected in those mediums.

This act, to me, meant that not only was Carlin a comic, he was something of a thinker and artist as well.  I’m not going to play for you a part of his act, though.  Instead, I’m going to play a piece of an interview he did with the Archive of American Television.  He’s fairly aged at this point – the interview was done in 2007.  It’s interesting because he elaborates on his process, and his thinking as he still develops.

So I’ll leave you with Carlin.  This has been Five and Change, I’m Paul DeLeeuw, and I’ll see you on Wednesday.

Today I have the opportunity to combine the two topics I’ve primarily talked about so far on this podcast. There will be other topics, including Net Neutrality and Public Access Television, but because this news is so recent, I want to capitalize on this event.

Barrack Obama has talked about environmental issues throughout his campaign, and into the Lame Duck session. Yesterday, he released a video on Change.gov about his energy policy.

He supports a system of cap-and-trade. Hopefully, when my children get a chance to listen to this archived podcast, they will not have known a world where the true cost of CO2 is not reflected in the economic cost of fossil fuels. Under a cap-and-trade system, businesses which produce CO2 as a side effect of operation will receive a finite amount of carbon credits, which will represent a specific amount of carbon released into the atmosphere per year. Businesses that then have extra credits, due to carbon-cutting and efficiency measures, will be able to trade or sell the credits to other businesses. Businesses that do not have enough credits to satisfy their consumption will be fined.

The Government will only make available the credits that represent our desired total carbon output. Essentially, the federal government will be able to define the amount of acceptable carbon to be released by businesses that operate within the US, and cap the emissions via the credits system. If the economy goes over the cap limit, the offending businesses will pay fines.

In addition to cap-and-trade, which is a financial incentive for businesses to scale back consumption, he also supports the transition to sustainable energy sources. The idea is to create jobs by investing in construction of wind, solar, and biofuel farms. As I’ve said before, I sincerely hope that the emphasis is on wind and solar, as they are, in my opinion, the most direct path from sunlight to useable power.

I applaud the call for action on this issue. I wish to see the next four years marked by the widespread construction of wind power here in Michigan – we need to become a leader in this industry as our other industries transition.

So I’ll leave you with this excerpt from Change.gov as President-elect Obama outlines his plan. This has been Five and Change, I’m Paul DeLeeuw, and I’ll see you on Friday.

Today I want to talk about Green. The Green movement has been gaining traction over the past few years, for a variety of reasons. One of the largest, in my opinion, was the gradual increase in the price of gasoline. In 2001, gasoline had an average price of $1.25 per gallon. It has been argued that this price was artificially low because of government subsidies, and many other reasons.

Since 2001, we’ve seen gas prices rise steadily, until they finally broke $4.00 per gallon in 2008. Very recently – just the past three weeks, really, the price has dropped back down below $2.00. Most economic experts – and I use that term loosely – have stated that the global economic meltdown has resulted in the price fall, as cash strapped consumers reduce consumption, and speculators have left the market.

I don’t doubt that it will go back up. Over time, the markets will recover, speculators will reenter the market, and OPEC will reduce supply to raise prices. But what high oil prices have shown this generation is that something needs to happen now. We need cheap energy.

The Green movement concentrates on conservation, recycling, and sustainable energy. I don’t use the term “Renewable” here, because to me, that doesn’t quite fit. Oil is renewable, as, overtime, several natural processes create it. I use the word “sustainable” because there is energy all around us that can be harnessed. It’s not renewable; no source or stock is being resupplied for us to draw from.

These sustainable forms of energy are wind, solar, and geothermal. Wind and Solar are both driven by the sun – wind indirectly, and solar directly. The sun is not a renewable resource, but it is a sustainable resource for at least the next few billion years. Geothermal is actually caused by the Earth’s gravity compressing the surface and core, which isn’t going anywhere anytime soon either.

These energy sources are the future of our energy needs, for electricity and heating. Oil and coal are likely to be considered too dirty to continue investment in, especially in the light of a presidential administration that is likely to support Carbon taxes.

I want to also mention a project I’ve been a part of these past few years: the West Michigan Coop. It is an online farmer’s market, available at www.westmichigancoop.com. Although the goal of the co-op is not specifically environmental, many of the farming practices we support are in line with Green ideals. The co-op’s main focus is local food – something which promotes conservation through reduced transportation costs. I encourage you to have a look.

The clip I have today comes from Ira Flatow’s Science Friday, broadcast on NPR on November 7th. The guest is Craig Taylor, professor of Physics at the Colorado School of Mines, and Associate Director of the Colorado Energy Research Institute. They talk about the new Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy.

So I leave you with this snippet. This has been Five and Change, I’m Paul DeLeeuw, and I’ll see you on Friday.

In my life so far, there have been three presidential transitions; from Reagan to Bush in ‘89, from Bush to Clinton in ‘93, and from Clinton to W. Bush in ‘01. I only really have memories of the last two; I was in sixth grade for Bush to Clinton. I remember my Dad telling me how the country would realize what a mistake we made by electing a Democrat. What followed were perhaps eight of the most prosperous and successful years in this country’s history. Dad is now essentially a Democrat.

We then elected Bush, and what followed were perhaps eight of the least prosperous and successful years this country has seen in quite some time. I don’t think this has to do with policy. I think it has to do with leadership.

The American people were annoyed by the Clinton scandal. We impeached him, and yet we never actually lost faith in the way he ran the government. There simply wasn’t evidence to suggest that he was doing a bad job – the economy was decent, people made a living wage, we could all afford gas, and the wars we fought were handled quickly and competently.

We lost faith in President Bush. Military families might tell you something different, but we the people as a whole, after the reality of the post-9/11 world set in, lost faith. The economy was slowly struggling. The living wage was eroding. Gas prices rose, and rose, and rose. The wars we fought were rife with controversy and for years, leadership seemed nowhere to be found.

Not everybody lost faith. But I believe that when a critical mass of people don’t believe in or trust their leadership, no policy change is going to fix our problems. So this presidential transition is particularly important, because no matter who is President after Barack Obama, only Barack can restore our faith in leadership now and into the near future.

So I leave you with this snippet of the first press conference. This has been Five and Change, I’m Paul DeLeeuw, and I’ll see you on Monday.

Today is November 5, 2008, and this is Five and Change.  Yesterday, Barack Obama was elected by the American People to be the President of the United States.  In the light of this, I recognized that we are truly living in a new era, both for the United States, and the World.

It is my desire to chronicle, for about five minutes, three times a week, my life – our lives – in this new era.  This audio recording is not for entertainment, nor for news broadcasting.  It is simply a log of my throughts, as events happen.  It is for my children, my family, and for posterity.

I’m going to play a sound clip each show, one that talks about what I want to cover.  The show will always be between five and six minutes, hence, Five and Change.

If you’ve found this online somewhere, I hope it inspires you to do this same thing.  I welcome your participation.  Please join the conversation, at padizio.com, or email me, Paul DeLeeuw, at pauldl@gmail.com.

Now I leave you with this clip from President Elect Obama’s Speech in Chicago, November 4th, after winning the election.  This has been Five and Change, I’m Paul DeLeeuw, and I’ll see you Friday.