When laying the groundwork for a major study like America’s Climate Choices, it’s helpful to get folks with different perspectives in the same room.  So it was an especially welcome treat to have John Muir, Mahatma Gandhi and Gen. George S. Patton take the stage during day two of the summit.

Rhetorically, anyway.  R. James Woolsey, a man whose credentials are too many to list here but who is perhaps best known for his service as CIA Director from 1993-95, channeled that trio to argue for a less centralized, more resilient electric grid.

Woolsey used Muir as an ideal advocate for environmental protection, chose Patton for his obvious interest in national security, and said Gandhi was a strong believer in the importance of local economies.  Surprisingly, it turns out Patton and Gandhi have a lot in common.  (Muir is generally too busy rhapsodizing about cumulonimbi to care about national security or local economies.  To him, it only matters if a technology or policy is good for the environment.)

Both the Apostle of Peace and Old Blood and Guts detest our current grid - Gandhi because it relies on centralized power sources owned by few that pollute for the many, and Patton because, as Woolsey said, a reasonably intelligent eighth-grade hacker could bring down the whole thing.  Neither likes nuclear power plants or carbon capture and storage facilities, since they too are centralized, and make juicy targets for our enemies. 

All three men like smaller power sources, though.  Gandhi can envision once-poor communities revitalized by their profits from installing solar panels or small wind turbines.  He also likes cogeneration, and is all for energy efficiency.  Patton is fine with anything that keeps us from dumping boatloads of oil money on countries filled with terrorists.  And Muir is pleased to breathe cleaner air as he rambles through the woods. 

Woolsey wrapped up his talk by cautioning against pitting the Pattons against the Muirs or Gandhis when working toward a comprehensive climate policy.  Folks who care about national security may not give a hoot about climate change, but the solutions to those problems overlap, Woolsey said, and cooperative action might help solve both.  “We need a big tent,” he concluded.