I once walked up the Pacific Coast of the US from Los Angeles to Seattle. I walked the highway shoulder a lot, peeling off onto dirt roads where I could, and even down to the beach where that was possible. It took five months.

An interesting thing happened along the way. Someone would often tell me, "People around here are really friendly and always willing to help. But be a bit more careful when you get to (name-the-town). They're a little different." But when I got to (name-the-town) of course, the people there were just as friendly and just as quick to warn me about people up the coast a ways.

I think about this when I think of climate change. Towns on the Pacific Coast are likely in for some rough times for a lot of reasons I won't go into here. And mutual dependence - interdependence if you will - is going to be more necessary. And I wonder how that's going to be brought about. This is my first post as Energy & Emissions writer for Justmeans; I want to introduce myself a bit. I am an engineer working on energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. I own my own company, Integrated Renewable Energy, here in Seattle, WA, US. After 30 years as a Systems Engineer for NASA, Boeing, and a handful of entrepreneurial space firms, I determined that I needed to do something more relevant to my children's futures and made the transition to energy.

I instigated and helped organize the 2,000 person "Step It Up" march in Seattle in 2007 to demand US action on climate change. We've come a long way, but clearly we have a long way to go. In my view, we have two tasks - to slow and then stop climate change, and to plan for a "soft landing" for everyone. (A solution that leaves anyone out is not a solution at all.) These are not trivial tasks, and there are many "dark greens" who will tell you they are impossible. I see it this way: We can sit in our rooms and wring our hands until the lights go out. Or, we can cynically party, until the lights go out. Or, we can joyfully (and sometimes angrily) work in the hope of making the future at least a little better than it otherwise might have been. I choose the last. So do my kids. And that's why I'm writing.

I see my Justmeans blog as a chance to carry on the philosophical and social work that underpins my consulting work. In my view, energy and emissions relate to every aspect of Justmeans' interests. Consequently, my blog will be dispersed amongst the Justmeans editorial headings, categorized under the most relevant heading for each post. I hope we will have some enlightening discussions. So that's who I am, and that's where I am coming from. I welcome all thoughts and comments along the way. But more than that, I hope we spark some actions.