What if we focused the 2.2+ trillion dollars on steps and products that will help us shift our economy to one based on clean energy and sustainable practices?   Hmmmmm – I don’t need to think very long about that – we could attack several of our biggest challenges at the same time. That’s right, we could crank up the economy and shift it to a direction that will leave us less exposed to the next pandemic and which will help us start to solve the climate crisis at the same time. We could take all that we have learned about working together and use the stimulus to create a healthier, safer, and more robust future for all of us. Just think of the things we could do if we all agreed to take the necessary steps as part of the recovery. We could:

1. end commuting and rush hour traffic by demonstrating to our employers that we are actually a lot more effective working at home. This would result in saving a lot of time and money now that we figured out how to do work from home during the coronavirus lockdown.
2. end spending countless hours driving and shopping now that we have convinced ourselves to have our food or at least the basics delivered to our front doors – just think of the time we would save.
3. reduce all the non-essential business travel by convincing our colleagues and clients to do more, and better, communication on line. This would be safer, cheaper, far less polluting, and give us a lot more time.
4. send a clear message to businesses that we want to support sustainable firms and buy sustainable products. We can send that message by:
   • all agreeing not to buy food and products wrapped in layers of plastic.
   • buying energy efficient appliances
   • buying solar and wind generated electricity
   • buying electrical vehicles and hybrids
5. put to good use the monies dedicated to infrastructure projects by making all of our buildings more energy efficient and by creating a smart electrical grid that supports the development of clean energy.

There is so much we could do.

We could even develop behaviors that would help clean the air and water and soils of this country and beyond.

By working together, we could move mountains!

Here is a link for an uplifting video.