First Entry

Having lived in New Jersey for most of my life and gone to school in Virginia and North Carolina, I feel like I’ve entered an entirely different world out here in Palo Alto. It is a place of ubiquitous bike lanes, compost piles and expensive neighborhoods. People here are noticeably healthier, probably a bit wealthier on average, and certainly a more creative and forward-thinking bunch than your average Joe. Silicon Valley has produced some of the world’s most innovative companies from Hewlett-Packard which was launched during the Great Depression to Google which was a product of the dot-com boom. The ground is still fertile out here for those looking to start a business because of access to venture capital, a highly qualified labor force and an encouraging political and cultural environment. I say “still” because even though Silicon Valley is still a good place to start a business, the reality is that the United States is no longer the innovation powerhouse that it once was, other burgeoning economies like India and China are poised to take the lead should we fail to properly stimulate our weakened economy.

I think about this problem a lot. How could a country that has generated so much wealth and such a high standard of living over the past two centuries fail to take advantage of new opportunities in the two most fundamental sectors of our lives: energy and transport? While Spain and Japan were building bullet trains we built bigger houses and bigger cars. Now we are at a significant competitive disadvantage, having stifled many of the clean technology opportunities that could have brought us more wealth, cleaner air and global recognition. But I will not dwell on the rise and fall of nations; rather I have merely tried to set the stage for the discussions I hope to initiate in future entries. I will position clean technologies and development as a strategic competitive advantage for the United States at this critical juncture in our history and cite examples that indicate concerted action on this front.