The headline is far more portentous than this post warrants, for if you combine the faint ripples of my scribblings with the mildness of the substance, there's not much to "reveal." But I decided nevertheless that, before the election, I didn't want to write anything that could in the slightest way be construed as negative.

Of course talk radio is dominated by boneheads, but a guy I heard on WEEI sports talk last week — by no means a troglodyte and almost eloquent in a townie kind of way— is still holding space in my head.

His topic was Question 3 on the Mass. ballot, which would (will) ban dog racing in the state. My position is, there is no intellectually or morally justified position in support of that moldering business, and I regret I can cast only one vote to put it out of the dogs' misery.

The Mass. Climate Action Network, a coalition of locally organized groups fighting the climate crisis, is holding its statewide event, the seventh annual, in a couple of weeks, on Sunday, Nov. 16 at the Stata Center at MIT; the school's Technology and Culture Forum is cohost.

Participants chat between question sessions.

I joined about 15 others for a "global warming cafe" in West Medford yesterday, and was glad to be among my peeps for a couple of hours. Generally, these were people who are clued into the needs and demands of climate change, and many of them do quite a lot already.

I am, of course, voting for Barack Obama on Tuesday. He is the clear choice, especially considered in the light of John McCain, who, to me, is a pale, sorry version of what he once presented to the American people, a hope for honest, straightforward leadership. "Craven panderer" is about all he has left, and it has been disgusting to watch.

Shannon Koenig and I met this morning to talk about conservation. We met through Sustainable Arlington, a grassroots effort to promote planet-friendly consciousness and practices in our town.

Shannon Koenig and I met this morning to talk about conservation. We met through Sustainable Arlington, a grassroots effort to promote planet-friendly consciousness and practices in our town.

Another in a series of miniprofiles of sustainability-minded people who are working to reduce humankind’s footprint on the planet. To recap, they're "mini" not only because they're short, but because all the questions are 10 words or less, and the answers are requested to match. Please, no counting.

ELAINE STRUNK, Cambridge
Director of green, The Lenox

Another in a series of miniprofiles of sustainability-minded people who are working to reduce humankind’s footprint on the planet. To recap, they're "mini" not only because they're short, but because all the questions are 10 words or less, and the answers are requested to match. (Please, no counting.)
DAVID BARCLAY, 53, Northampton
Executive director, Northeast Sustainable Energy Association NESEA formed in 1974 as the New England Solar Energy Association, but joined with similar groups in the Northeast in 1985 to form an organization stretching from Washington, D.C. to the Canadian border. (In an impressive rejiggering that no doubt saved money on stationery — not to mention the monogrammed towels — they kept the acronym while changing some of the words.) Barclay said NESEA "encourages, demonstrates, and teaches proven sustainable-energy solutions." Its 1,600 members are mostly professionals in the field.

On Saturday, Nov. 1, a trio of Medford community groups are hosting a "global warming cafe," described as "a community gathering to share what global warming means to each of us. By exchanging views, feelings and ideas, we will begin personal action to stop global warming and learn to make better choices about our own energy use."