In the 1980s, the number of cities or regions that assembled an energy or carbon baseline could be counted on one hand; today that number is in the thousands. But much of the excitement about an aggressive approach to effective climate protection has been sobered by the economic situation. While a greener economy is necessary to a full recovery, maintaining commitments made while the larger economy was growing is difficult. Scott Bernstein of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, who was directly involved in the crafting of the Chicago Climate Action Plan, will present a case study of how this issue has evolved in Chicago with commentary on how this situation is playing out nationally and with the federal government. And while the analysis suggests that success hinges on picking action plans that can be sold as economic progress, much of what's been sold as progress, particularly the location efficiency impacts of sprawl and spatial deconcentration, undercuts both economic and environmental progress. Also, both economic and efficiency progress are a function of the rate of deployment; the presentation will also cover innovations on accelerating good investments. Can we get on track in time? Tune in this Friday...."