image by Roberto Garcia-S

Now that we have a new president, it feels as though the 21st century has finally started. Of course, I’m still waiting on my jetpack and my robot maid, but in the meantime, there’s lots of amazing stuff being done in every quarter to get the new world jumpstarted.

First off, the incredible organization that helped President Obama win the election is now being transformed into a network of service to renew America. For a long time, the movements for change in this country and around the world have operated largely independently of each other, focused on their own missions without being organized on a larger level. Efforts have been made to connect these autonomous groups, but without massive funding and public awareness, each network only contains a small piece of the puzzle. I’m hoping that USAService.org grows into a nationwide, widely publicized umbrella for everyone who wants to change the world so that we can be aware of what’s going on and work together intelligently.

In Spain, high-speed trains are giving air travel a run for its money. Spanish train usage grew 28% last year, while airline passenger numbers fell by 20%. A year ago, 72% of long-distance travel in Spain was conducted by airplane. Within 2 years, it is expected that fully half of these trips will be train rides instead. This change in travel patterns coincided with new high-speed rail lines being opened. Crafters of the US economic stimulus package, take note!

Speaking of the stimulus package, The New York Times recently profiled Portland, Oregon Congressional Representative and bicycle evangelist Earl Blumenauer. In the article he discusses his suggestions for the stimulus package and reframes the economic crisis, calling it “perhaps the best opportunity we will ever see” to make our society sustainable—promoting energy efficiency, public transportation options, and, of course, a world where bikes have parity with cars on the road. “These are things that three years ago were unimaginable ... [now] these are things that are actually reasonable and affordable.”

Even with the economy going down the toilet, people still seem more and more willing to spend their money on “green products” according to a report (PDF)released by the Boston Consulting Group. Although health and safety are still more important to consumers than eco-friendly production members, the group notes that “Green is also a proxy for health and safety in many products (e.g. foods, skin creams, children’s toys) and that will continue to be something that consumers are concerned about when shopping.”

Wind power is picking up speed around the world, from the Bronx to Massachusetts to Kenya, where the plans were announced for a wind farm that will provide 1/4 to 1/3 of Kenya’s electricity needs. The wind farm will go into production in 2011 and reach full production levels by 2012.

The Kenyan wind farm project is a great example of leapfrogging, where developing countries, lacking the functional but wasteful infrastructure that developed nations have in place, skip right over polluting technologies to adopt cheaper, greener ones. From a 2007 Worldchanging article: “Where even the most basic systems of telephony have never been introduced, for instance, it’s possible to skip the landlines altogether and jump straight to mobile phones—leapfrogging to the technological forefront.” In this way, the developed and developing worlds can work together and inform each others’ evolution into the bright green future we all want.

Between the opportunities afforded us in crisis and the emerging era of openness, organization, and participation in America, it’s a good time to be alive! Even if we aren’t super genius engineers who can solve the world’s energy crises, each of us still has a role to play in educating ourselves, spreading new ideas, and bringing the light of possibility into what at first glance seems like a bleak picture. Let’s remember that from hard times can come great things and get on with it!