The hardest part about starting a business is dealing with different personalities. How do you make them mesh? How do you get everyone to work toward a combined/consolidated vision? How do you OWN your vision?!

Last summer, I sat in the Town Hall in Merrill, Maine listening to the Town Clerk cry over the town not having enough money for road salt this winter; the town had no way to get the money, since they couldn’t raise taxes with such a depressed economy. The Clerk made it clear to me why she was so upset – she was afraid that one of her friends’ children will skid off a slick road and hit a tree.

We’re starting a movement. The Emergent Posse is an online group/movement/community of highly-motivated community activists spread across the nation working to educate and empower communities and community leaders in order to implement real sustainability programs and projects. We’ve hit a paradigm shift: oil isn’t cheap, the planet has a fever, and the economy is in the toilet. I’ve heard smart people calling for BIG government intervention and Europe-styled Socialism. That’s not the answer here in America.

If you google search (or yahoo, we don’t discriminate) for “Energy Bill” under news you get a bonanza of results for both the new national energy and climate bill, just released, as well as for numerous states who are all releasing their own far reaching bills. California just passed one which requires all utilities to purchase 33% of their power from renewable resources by 2020. Tennessee will be releasing their own in a few weeks for discussion and is expected to be a ‘lead by example’ type bill with much of the focus being on greening the government and its operations. It also may include a residential code for certain green and efficiency standards for new homes. And they’re not all rosey…