Editor’s note: We’re pleased to welcome the Network for New Energy Choices as a new non-profit content partner. Every other Wednesday, Shaun Chapman, NNEC’s Communications Director, will have a new post for you related to the organization’s mission of promoting "safe, clean and environmentally responsible energy choices."

People don’t want a few stories thoroughly investigated, they want a lot of stories barely mentioned.
–John Stewart of The Daily Show

In our line of work (read our mission statement), it is very difficult to get, and impossible to retain, the media’s attention, especially when what you are advocating isn’t always all that sexy. You try saying the words "net metering" without yawning. It can’t be done.

Here is what most media outlets want: A real crisis with two major elements: A villain and a hero. The hero will come wielding one powerful silver bullet.

Fortunately for all of us a crisis is exactly what we have in global climate change. And this crisis is not in retreat:

• In 2004 China was projected to surpass the United States in CO2 production (one area where the United States is NOT envious of Chinese production) in 2024. China outperformed in this arena as well, and surpassed in CO2 production earlier this year. (Data from the International Energy Agency in Paris)
• This would be fine if it meant that the United States was being surpassed because it has cut production of greenhouse gasses. This is not so. Since 1990 the United States has increased greenhouse gas production by 16 percent. (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Bonn, Germany).

We have a big task on our hands, to be sure, but do we have a silver bullet wielding hero?

Unfortunately, it is not a silver bullet that is going to save us. There is no one answer. No golden wind turbines, nor magic carbon sequestration practices.

What we need is an ambitious re-thinking of our national energy policy that will diversify our fuel/power mix, cut energy demand, and is founded on the principles of conservation.

You try selling this to generation Xbox. All the journalists out there stopped reading the last paragraph somewhere around the words "there is no one answer."

Diversity, mix, multiple: these words do not fit into the neatly-packed story arc of sinister scheming villain vs. altruistic shining hero. In fact, the idea of villain and hero does not fit, because both the hero and the villain winds up being the same person: US, we selfish consuming individuals.

None of us meant to kill the popular cute cuddly polar bears from Al Gore’s movie. It is not as if when we leave a room and do not switch off the lights, we are thinking sinister global warming thoughts. Or when we participate in NIMBY-ism by protesting against "destructive" wind turbines, we aren’t thinking "Gee, you know, I really hate my grandchildren." It’s just that we are not thinking very much at all.

Confronting global climate change and crafting meaningful solutions is a bit like eating an elephant. The problem fills the room and then our brains switch off, not feeling up to the task.

But that’s what we’re here for, to show you how to take small strategic bites so you play the part of the hero MORE than you play the part of the villain. People make mistakes, but we do not want a system that rewards these mistakes.

Because let’s face it, we all (and I include us know-it-all environmentalists) are going to play the part of the villain at times. Most of us will forget to turn off the lights at least once in the next month, but it would be a lot better if the lights we forget to turn off are, say, energy (and money) saving compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). So do one thing this week. Go to a store that carries CFLs, and buy one for every fixture in the house.

Personally, I think it is best to wait until your old, incandescent bulbs burn out. (Are we trading some energy efficiency for more consumer waste? You decide). We have a complete consumer guide to CFLs: A Compact Fluorescent Truth (one story, thoroughly investigated).

Okay, so CFLs are the silver bullet of this article. What can I say, I needed a hook and I’ve got some Xbox to play.