02/01/08 Wrapping It Up

Wrapping It Up. I'm Greg Martin as Line On Agriculture presents the Harvest Clean Energy Report. This year's Harvesting Clean Energy Conference in Portland was a huge success even though snow and ice in the Northwest made it hard for locals to get there. Attendance was good nonetheless. Peggy Beltrone is a Cascade County Commissioner and a member of the 25x25 Steering Committee. She was an attendee at this year's conference and was excited about the various demographics represented. BELTRONE: What I'm really trying to do is poll from the participants some of their feedback because it's an exciting crowd. There's new faces and young faces. People who are really anxious to make a go of clean energy and it's so inspiring to see the changes in attitudes since Harvesting Clean Energies been holding these conferences And since I've been involved in them I've seen a big difference. When the clean energy movement first got up and running a great many years ago it was confined to the more holistic kind of crowd but Beltrone says that has changed. BELTRONE: There are an equal number of Brooks Brothers suits and Birkenstock's in this crowd. It's a place for people who are coming together, some of them are driven from a capitalistic standpoint that they can make some money and others main goal has always been that they think this is the right thing to do for the environment. One important thing about producing clean energy is that it's less a pipe dream and more of a reality. BELTRONE: There's a lot more technical information, people are learning the rules of engagement and I think we're talking about clean technology. Before we might have been talking about the technology to get us there but now we're adding to the language. They really have started to get down to the brass tacks. Renewable energy has the unique ability of not only being big business but something that the average farmer or even home owner can be a part of. BELTRONE: People can incorporate renewable energy because of its distributive nature. They can incorporate it into local operations; you don't have to have a giant refinery on the other side of the state that is processing something. You can do this right in your community. For additional information on clean energy, visit harvestcleanenergy.org. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network. www.harvestcleanenergy.org