I'm hoping to inspire others to follow their dreams and help the environment at the same time. I'll be talking about what inspired me to design and build a solar car, and then what I decided to do with it and what happened in the process and what I was able to accomplish in the end. The dream, the struggle, the victory!

It's no wonder that our political leaders are having such a difficult time introducing the policies needed to reduce greenhouse gases. They would not see the climate effects of this policy realized during their political career. In fact, they may not be realized in their entire lifetime.

Critics delight in accusing environmentalists of hypocrisy. They take deep satisfaction in forwarding emails about Al Gore's colossal home energy bills. If they like that, they'll be delighted to learn that people like me and Al who identify as environmentalists aren't so green on average.

People accuse me and other environmentalists and scientists of being "alarmist". But the situation is alarming, and it's even more alarming that some people ignore it. This disconnect with reality is because industrial interests spend billions of dollars continually promoting discredited theories.

We didn't create this mess -- we simply continued contributing to it. But if we don't at least try to change our ways, we will be known as the most selfish generation; the ones that knew what needed to be done but were too self-absorbed, too greedy or too lazy to do anything about it.