Jonathan Safran Foer
Special to CNN

Like most people, I'd given some thought to what meat actually is, but until I became a father and faced the prospect of having to make food choices on someone else's behalf, there was no urgency to get to the bottom of things.

I'm a novelist and never had it in mind to write nonfiction. Frankly, I doubt I'll ever do it again. But the subject of animal agriculture, at this moment, is something no one should ignore. As a writer, putting words on the page is how I pay attention.

If the way we raise animals for food isn't the most important problem in the world right now, it's arguably the No. 1 cause of global warming: The United Nations reports the livestock business generates more greenhouse gas emissions than all forms of transportation combined.

It's the No. 1 cause of animal suffering, a decisive factor in the creation of zoonotic diseases like bird and swine flu, and the list goes on. It is the problem with the most deafening silence surrounding it.

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Andrew L. Shapiro
Special to CNN

In a recent CNN commentary entitled "Green jobs: hope or hype?" Samuel Sherraden argues that green job creation will be insufficient to bring America out of recession. But Sherraden narrowly defines green as a "sector," and fails to see its potential as a strategy for the revitalization of the entire economy.

When the public debate is focused around the precise number of green jobs created in, say, a solar panel factory, we miss the opportunity as a country to think more broadly about greening the economy - and building a foundation for real growth and competitiveness.

The aspiration to create "green jobs" should really be seen as shorthand for two public priorities - immediate job creation and long-term transformation of the economy for sustainability and prosperity - and both goals can be addressed simultaneously. However, in judging our progress, a simple tally of jobs in "green sectors" is only a partial indicator of the impact and thus can be misleading.

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The Empire State Building is set to reduce its energy output by 38 percent.

Asia Lindsay
AC360º Intern

Having just arrived in New York City, fresh from Manchester, England, and being the kind of person who carpools elevators, I was pleasantly surprised by the level of environmental consciousness in The Big Apple.

Take the Empire State Building, for instance. It is one of my (and America’s) favorite buildings, is famous for its romantic depiction in countless films, and it can now add tackling climate change to its impressive resume.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Bill Clinton’s Climate Initiative (CCI) and, of course, the Empire State Building Company have joined forces for the $500 million renovation to make the iconic building more eco-friendly. The project will also aim to boost the building’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) status to Gold – the highest rating in the green building industry. Keep reading

President Obama has said the U.S. must focus on green energy

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins
CEO, Green For All

A common argument among opponents of strong climate and energy legislation is that transitioning to clean energy will hurt the economy and low-income Americans.

In an op-ed this week, Senator James Inhofe wrote that the American Clean Energy and Security Act will have a “devastating impact on the economy… cost millions of American jobs” and result in “higher electricity prices in our homes.”

Others suggest that they oppose clean energy investments for the sake of low-income people who, they say, would suffer under a green economy.

This argument is scary, no doubt. It is also utterly false.

Today, Green For All, NRDC and PERI released a report projecting the complete opposite of this disingenuous argument. The report, entitled “Green Prosperity: How Clean-Energy Policies Can Fight Poverty and Raise Living Standards in the United States” finds that investments in a clean energy economy are good for Americans, especially low-income people.

Investments in a clean energy will create jobs. Lots of them. In fact, green investment will create three times as many jobs as the same investment in fossil fuels.

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Gene Bloch
Managing Editor
CNN New York

The pain of Chrysler’s bankruptcy filing is hitting hard today – 789 Chrysler dealerships representing about 25% of the auto maker’s 3,181 dealerships – are getting word today they will be shut down. That means thousands of salespeople and staff out of work and a major impact on communities. General Motors is expected to soon announce an even bigger number of closures, as it heads toward a June 1st deadline to restructure with or without a Chapter 11 filing.

Most analysts expect GM will have to file as well.

Ahead of the Chrysler news this morning, more signs that the jobs picture is worsening, even as some signs on the economy are positive, or at least showing a slower pace of deterioration. A record 6.5 million people are now collecting unemployment claims, and the number of first time filers jumped last week by 32-thousand to a total of 637-thousand.

Inflation at the wholesale level jumped a bigger than expected 0.3% in April, but the year-over-year change in the Producer Price Index was DOWN 3.7%, which is the biggest decline since 1950, as a weak economy means prices must be cut to entice retailers to buy.

President Obama, as I write this is making a push at a high school town hall event in New Mexico the credit card legislation making its way through Congress – Mr. Obama has railed against hidden fees and sudden interest rate hikes that have many Americans outraged.

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David MacKay
Special to CNN

We need to introduce simple arithmetic into our discussions of energy.

We need to understand how much energy our chosen lifestyles consume, we need to decide where we want that energy to come from, and we need to get on with building energy systems of sufficient size to match our desired consumption.

Our failure to talk straight about the numbers is allowing people to persist in wishful thinking, inspired by inane sayings such as "every little bit helps."

Assuming we are serious about getting off fossil fuels, the scale of building required should not be underestimated. Small actions alone will not deliver a solution.

Let's express energy consumption and energy production using simple personal units, namely kilowatt-hours. One kilowatt-hour (kWh) is the energy used by leaving a 40-watt bulb on for 24 hours. The chemical energy in the food we eat to stay alive amounts to about 3 kWh per day. Taking one hot bath uses about 5 kWh of heat. Driving an average European car 100 kilometers (roughly 62 miles) uses 80 kWh of fuel. With a few of these numbers in mind, we can start to evaluate some of the recommendations that people make about energy.

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Paul Krugman
The New York Times

The 2008 election ended the reign of junk science in our nation’s capital, and the chances of meaningful action on climate change, probably through a cap-and-trade system on emissions, have risen sharply.

But the opponents of action claim that limiting emissions would have devastating effects on the U.S. economy. So it’s important to understand that just as denials that climate change is happening are junk science, predictions of economic disaster if we try to do anything about climate change are junk economics.

Yes, limiting emissions would have its costs. As a card-carrying economist, I cringe when “green economy” enthusiasts insist that protecting the environment would be all gain, no pain.

But the best available estimates suggest that the costs of an emissions-limitation program would be modest, as long as it’s implemented gradually. And committing ourselves now might actually help the economy recover from its current slump.

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Fareed Zakaria
The Washington Post

Energy independence sounds like such a great idea. if only we could be free ... of what, exactly? The single biggest energy exporter to the U.S. is Canada. And even the petrostates we don't like have to sell us oil at whatever price the market sets. We buy lots from Hugo Chávez in Venezuela. He denounces us, we denounce him, but we happily do business together. After all, what else is he going to do with his oil, drink it?

One could make a broader argument: the United States should wean itself off oil in order to diminish its crucial importance in the world of energy. That would make states like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia and Venezuela less powerful–and less able to fund militias and terrorist groups. This is a worthwhile goal, but let's be realistic. Given the demands for energy over the next few decades, oil is going to be a key part of the mix, which means that these countries will have plenty of cash. After all, Saudi Arabia was funding extremist Islamic groups in the 1990s, when oil was $20 a barrel. The Saudis were budgeting for oil at $35 until a few years ago–and still swimming in money. I would love to see a world in which radical Islam runs out of money, but I think that we will probably have to struggle against these forces for a long time. There is no quick energy fix.

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Technicians climb wind turbines in Tehachapi, CA.

Wind Turbines in Tehachapi, CA.

Paul Vercammen
CNN Senior Producer

Tehachapi, California. It blows here, hard enough it seems to strip feathers from chickens, or stiff enough to straighten out in two minutes some housewife's curly hairdo that took two hours to coif.

As local legend goes, they started wind power up here in the early 1980s, building crude erector sets with propellers and converting all that spinning into energy.

Tehachapi is about a two hour-drive North of Los Angeles and a cultural divide away.

People here don't ride in black Limos. They drive dusty trucks.

They don't take a dip in the Pacific. They dip chewing tobacco.

Mike Mesier is VP for Operations and Training for Airstreams, a company that trains folks to fix wind turbines.

Tehachapi and neighboring hamlets are full of McGyvers, men and women who can fix anything and create art with a screwdriver.

They say Mike Goldsworthy can make a cabinet so useful and beautiful, you can admire your image in the reflection on the outside, and on the inside store the china and the plastic cups from concession stand.

But when the economy tanked, cabinetmaking became a luxury. Goldsworthy couldn't find a job so he threw caution to the relentless wind and started climbing.

Now this craftsman who owns mules and horses tends to his wind turbines up in the air, making sure the herds of them that dot these hills are healthy.

"Look out my office window," laughs Goldsworthy, standing on a hill carpeted with grass that's mid-March green and lined with wind turbines that sing when the blowing brings them to life.

"It's fantastic. Who would not want to work out here in the air. You got 360 degree views. Beautiful weather. Sunshine. Occasionally you get snowed on. No biggie."

Well if the recovery needs to officially start somewhere, why not here in the rolling, wind-whipped hills with Goldsworthy.

Some predict in 20 years, 20 percent of America's electricity demands will be provided by wind which means more Mike Goldsworthy-types are needed.

There's more wind turbines to be built.

And for anyone anywhere who ever cursed the wind in their backyard for rattling the windows or snapping the flag, there could be something in there for them - a job.

Gene Bloch
Managing Editor
CNN New York

You hear people talk about it wherever you go – deep concerns about retirement savings. The Dow Industrials are stuck below 7000 for the first time in almost 12-years after a 299 point plunge Monday. The Dow is down 23% so far this year and down 52% from its record high only 16 months ago. The slow-motion crash has everyone is asking – where is the bottom? The market reversed an earlier gain and is now lower.

In a particularly sensitive stock market, any comment or clue on the future from key players in government could have a big influence. We’ll be listening for that today when three of them testify about the President’s budget on Capitol Hill. At 10a Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke appears before the Senate Budget Committee, while Budget Director Peter Orszag simultaneously testifies before the House Budget Committee. At 1230p Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will appear before the House Ways and Means Committee.

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