This diary is meant as a brief announcement, and a call for volunteers. (Editor's note: This diary was cross-posted at DailyKos.com.)

We'd like to work on a new, improved version of Energize America, to reflect the changes in recent months: higher oil prices, increased awareness of climate change as a fundamental issue and increased political momentum to do something about both carbon emission and energy dependence. A new version could take into account that changing background via a thorough discussion of the objectives it must set, and this would be an opportunity to hopefully close some gaps and remedy some of the weaknesses of the plan as it stands.

We are also highly likely to have serious announcements to make in the very near future regarding the existence of Energize America as an organization able to work in the public sphere, and in coming weeks regarding those acts that have been in the works in Congress.

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The goal is to keep using the same model as in the previous iterations, ie public discussion on dKos threads, followed by editorial work by a smaller team, validated again by presentation to the wider community. This would apply to general principles, to specific issues and/or to presentational issues and political strategy in respect of the plan.

Amongst the topics that can be identified right now (but this is by no means a closed list):

• adapting the goals to the new context (ie making the more ambitious);
• working on some of the known weaknesses of the plan (more input on railways and light rail, on nuclear, on budgeting the whole plan, on helping to strengthen local initiatives) and others that may be brought up;
• thinking about how to better promote the plan to the outside world, in particular in the context of the primaries and the forthcoming elections.

Again, all topics are welcome. A good start is the Executive Summary of the latest draft, as posted on dKos last year (links to all version, including the complete fifth one, at the bottom of this post).

In order to do all this, I'm willing to play a coordinating role again, but I will need help. Whether you have contributed before, or have just discovered the plan, your participation will be welcome, and it can take many different forms:

• general participation in the threads, to comment on the topic of the day, propose ideas, wording, links, etc... All comments are read, and as many as possible are taken into account;
• specific, more detailed contributions on a topic you know, with arguments on what can be done, what should be done, and why it matters within a plan like Energize America - and ideally in a way that can be integrated in the overall plan.
• active participation in the editorial team that will go through all inputs, select those that it deems make the most sense, and use them to build a coherent plan, trying to balance objectives, budgets, political constraints, and physical reality. That means being part of regular discussions by email in addition to participation to the relevant dKos threads;

Many intermediate forms of participation can be imagined - we're certainly not going to throw out any volunteers!

The goal for now is to generate a new regular stream of Energize America diaries on DailyKos and other sites willing to participate, to update the plan in ways that make it even more coherent, realistic and worthy of interest to elected (and to-be-elected) politicians.

We're really looking forward to your help, to create new precedents with our full transparent, volunteer-driven method to drafting policy.

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*Earlier Energize America diaries*:

The first drafts:
Building together an effective Dem energy policy (I)
Reenergize America - A Democratic Blueprint (Second Draft)
Energize America - A Democratic Blueprint (Third Draft)
Energize America - A Blueprint for U.S. Energy Security (Fourth Draft)
Energize America - Achieving U.S. Energy Security by 2020 (Draft Five)

The presentation at YearlyKos 2006:
YK - Energize America presentation (part 1 - the energy situation)
YK - Energize America presentation (part 2 - how Kossacks built EA)
YK - Energize America presentation (part 3 - main goals)
YK - Energize America presentation (part 4 - principles and exemplary Acts)
YK - Energize America presentation (part 5 - how you can help)

The presentation at YearlyKos 2007:
From Nowhere to Vegas
From Vegas to Chicago
Energize America: CRASHING THE HILL ... (also on EA2020.org)

Some backgrounders:
DailyKos in Action: the example of 'Energize America'
Why Energize America? (or on EA2020.org)

Some discussions associated with Energize America:
Cities of Bikes
Rail and Bus Rapid Transit should be friends
Breakthrough Energy Technologies