Wednesday, President Elect Barack Obama announced the new Secretary of Agriculture was to be Governor of Iowa Tom Vilsack. In his press conference Vilsack specifically addressed his hopes for utilizing alternative fuels tapping rural America for ways to combat the climate crisis. Back in rural Oklahoma I was spending the day with friends and farmers Clay Pope and his new wife Sarah Love-Pope who have taken family farming to a whole new level. As an environmentalists Sarah said she had never considered moving to a farm and putting her money where her mouth was.

"Some of the greatest environmentalists are farmers, because they own the land and they decide how it will be cared for," she said while driving a truck through their fields.

Clay agrees. His work as the director of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts has fueled a new incentive for farmers to use techniques that reduce carbon emissions in the atmosphere. A company could buy carbon credits that could then be passed off to farmers who use these environmentally friendly techniques like no-till which can both protect and repair the land. Pope has said before that carbon can be a cash crop to farmers new and established. A major problem with rural America continues to be retention of its youth, but the Department of Agriculture has a great opportunity to utilize the existing enthusiasm for Obama to educate youth on ways they can impact their world by investing in the communities they grew up in. Turning environmentalists into farmers is one way youth can help combat global warming but other than the goodness of their heart, there is little in the way for incentives. The Department of Ag could increase grants and scholarships to youth who seek Ag degrees or the new Associates Degree the Oklahoma State University now provides for Wind Turbine Engineers and Technicians. Additional subsidies could be provided to children who return to take over their family farms is another way. And developing our country's broadband infrastructure to enable youth to have a connectivity to their friends or to entertainment available online. See my adventure with the Pope's in Loyal, Oklahoma here too! I'm encouraged to see Gov. Vilsack take the reigns, but I hope the new Department of Ag makes an effort to reach out to youth to understand more about what is needed to revitalize rural America.