Crist's 2nd Climate Summit: defining "our next step forward"

Florida Governor Charlie Crist opened his second climate summit in Miami this morning saying he hoped the meeting would "chart the course of the green future of the Sunshine State."
He used the occasion to sign the state's new Energy Bill #7135, calling it "Florida's most comprehensive energy economic policy in the history of our great state."
When he hosted his first summit last year, Crist said people were not entirely convinced about his plans. "After one year everyone is on board," he said. Now it was time to "define our next step forward," he added.
That meant exploring every possible way to protect Florida from the threat of global warming by tapping into its "entrepreneurial spirit." He compared the task ahead to the challenge in the 1960s set by the Kennedy administration to put a man on the moon. "Just as America continues to reach for the stars from our great state, Florida can once again launch America into the coming green tech business boom," he said.
In order to "liberate us from our current addiction to fossil fuel ... we must be innovative, we must reach higher," he added.
That meant training new talent and expertise to fill a new era of "high wage, high demand jobs" in the green tech field. "We must equip our workforce ... a trained workforce is key to developing the alternative and renewable energy sources and energy efficiency we must have in order to reduce our carbon emissions," he said.

- David Adams