The anecdote comes from Newsweek, via gristmill.com.

OK, so now we have the guy we wanted in the White House. So what is the outlook for clean tech?

Martin Lamonica, green-tech writer at CNet, surveys the landscape. I am always informed by Martin's writing.

[added] Greenbiz.com covers some of the same ground, but also looks at how voters reacted to clean-energy referenda nationwide.

Dave Beard, major domo at boston.com who maintains an interest in green matters, turned to Ian Bowles, Mass. secretary for energy and the environment, for five suggestions to the president-elect. Good idea, and good ideas. Check them out here.

The headline is far more portentous than this post warrants, for if you combine the faint ripples of my scribblings with the mildness of the substance, there's not much to "reveal." But I decided nevertheless that, before the election, I didn't want to write anything that could in the slightest way be construed as negative.

I ended up working for the Obama campaign three times. I wrote about the first time previously, so I won't detail it here. But in short, it was not rewarding or uplifting in the slightest, and I had to content myself with the knowledge that I was there for a cause, not for entertainment, and that if that's what they wanted me to do, then that was what was needed.

I am, of course, voting for Barack Obama on Tuesday. He is the clear choice, especially considered in the light of John McCain, who, to me, is a pale, sorry version of what he once presented to the American people, a hope for honest, straightforward leadership. "Craven panderer" is about all he has left, and it has been disgusting to watch.

I'm disappointed to find myself, again, in the position of voting against someone, rather than for someone. That's an overstatement — I like a lot of what Obama says, and I'm not at all concerned about the experience factor. McCain's been around a long time, but I don't think he has the experience that I'd want in a leader, which is, to say, leadership. More than Obama has proven to me that he is going to be a good president, McCain has proven to me that we will continue our spiral into bellicose global has-been if he is elected.

Shannon Koenig and I met this morning to talk about conservation. We met through Sustainable Arlington, a grassroots effort to promote planet-friendly consciousness and practices in our town.

The meeting was an outgrowth of previous discussions, but today's topic was mine. I'm very drawn to gadgetry and other technology, but there is absolutely no question that the No. 1 priority for anyone interested in sustainability should be conservation. Just take less. Use less. Spend less. It offers a bigger payoff than solar or wind or geothermal. We will need all those, but before we spend a penny on any of them, we should wring every bit of waste and profligacy out of our current practices.

My default position on corporations is pretty lefty, that they are not unlike stiff dicks — driven to get what they want, not caring about anything else. Pretty much of all them are chartered for self-preservation with blinders to social interests or social costs.

But I've been opening to a more nuanced position, based on the experiences of Adam Werbach and Wal Mart, and to a lesser extent, the writings of Joel Makower.

The people at Good magazine have a good name, if you get what I mean. Some people might think you're saying that the magazine is good, when you're only meaning to say that the name of the magazine is Good. Especially when it's the first word of a headline, as it is above. Good thinking, no? No wait...

Lubber is president of Ceres, a national coalition of investors and public-interest groups focused on environmental issues. Yesterday she was one of the Globe magazine's "earth angels," briefly profiled with five others as part of the issue's green focus.

Today, she's an op-ed contributor, making excellent points that will one day seem so obvious that everyone will wonder why, and rue, that they weren't conventional wisdom.

She says it better than I will, since, like, it's her idea, but essentially she contrasts Wall Street's behavior that necessitated today's proposed bailout with its broad-based ignorance of the hidden carbon risks in its investment strategies.

Taken altogether, I can't imagine too many minds were made up by the debate last night. I wouldn't say it was boring, but it certainly was even, and contained no shockers. I heard one pundit opine that Obama had succeeded in making his case for commander and chief, and McCain had successfully made his case against Obama as president.

I remain unsatisfied with the candidates' energy discussions, and Obama added another burr last night, when Jim Lehrer pressed both candidates on the initiatives they might have to forego or delay as the result of the financial bailout.

I don't recall McCain ever answering, and I only recall one detail that Obama coughed up: He might have to downshift on energy research.