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 My issue is this: The environment.

I grew up in Kentucky where we were allowed to run wild, through creeks and woods, through grassy fields. We weren’t barefoot. But, boy, did we come home with the muddiest shoes. I know it sounds picture perfect. It was. And I’m worried that my children and their children won’t be able to enjoy nature the way that I did.

I’m worried about pollution. When I was seven, my family and I took road trip from Kentucky to Florida. The South has incredible landscape. Mountains, hills, majestic trees, tranquil fields, blues and greens. But the clouds weren’t clouds at all. They were dirty, polluted, balls of smoke, emanating from factories. I was disgusted. My father told me to write a letter to the president. I never did. I wish I had.

I’m worried about our dependence on oil. During the oil crisis in 1973, people lined up for miles and waited for hours for gasoline. Sound familiar? The oil shortage in Nashville and Atlanta right now tell me that there’s something wrong with a dependence that makes us panic and pollutes the environment!

I’m worried that we’ll never have an administration that wants to find alternative energy, renewable, clean energy sources. I recently learned that my friend Steve Westly, former California State Controller, worked on a project during the Carter administration to put solar panels on the White House, which the Reagan administration promptly removed. Who is going to put those solar panels back up on the White House and set the example for our country and the world?

So I’m worried about our environment. Hurricanes. Ice caps. Polar bears, seals, whales.   Even banana slugs. I want a clean, healthy, unpolluted planet. We have to acknowledge that global warming is REAL. We have to find alternative energy sources. And we have to commit to solving this very important issue.

I don’t know about you. But I want my children and your children and everyone’s children to be able to run through beautiful woods and grassy fields and breathe clean, fresh air and come home with muddy shoes.