Last week was a pretty thrilling week for environmentalists. With so much going on each day, I've been wondering what we're going to get as an encore. So far the signs are pretty good.

First off, this week brings the Green Jobs/Good Jobs conference to Washington D.C. (Feb 4-6). Thousands of people are expected to attend this event, hosted by the Blue Green Alliance, which is a coalition of labor groups and environmentalists, including NRDC. In fact, NRDC's executive director Peter Lehner will be one of the speakers. The conference will highlight how we can repower America by moving to a clean energy economy that will create millions of good-paying jobs while reducing global warming pollution.

On a related note, the Obama administration announced on Friday that it's forming a "middle class task force," under the leadership of V.P. Biden, and that the first meeting, slated for February 27, is called, "Green Jobs: A Pathway to a Strong Middle Class." What a great idea: participatory democracy and a government that listens to its citizens.

In Sunday's New York Times Magazine, I read David Leonhardt article about the economic recovery, including his views on green jobs. While Leonhardt brings a health dose of skepticism to the table, one of his conclusions is that green jobs and a shift to alternative energy will "pay a handsome return in the form of icecaps that don't melt and droughts that don't happen - events with costs of their own."

Clearly, energy and environment are on people's minds... even during the Super Bowl. One of the most interesting moments came late in the game - and I'm not referring to the Cardinals' safety or "the Catch" by Santonio Holmes.

What I found really remarkable were the GE ads that ran in the fourth quarter. I expected to see Budweiser Clydesdales and the latest from Go Daddy Go, but I was a bit surprised when the words "Smart Grid" were blasted onto my TV screen.

The smart grid, of course, refers to the modernization of the electric power system ("the grid") that brings electricity into people's homes and businesses. As anyone who remembers the blackout that hit New York City in August 2003 can attest, America's electricity grid is fragile and not well-equipped to meet our country's growing power demands. While it is a huge undertaking, a new power grid would greatly increase energy efficiency, saving consumers and businesses millions of dollars and lowering our global warming emissions. I'll save the details to my energy colleagues, but for me, the real surprise was that GE would spend its time and money (likely in the neighborhood of $3 million) to promote this idea.

I suppose momentum for big ideas has to start somewhere. I just hope that we can maintain progress on these ideas so that they are turned into real action on the economy - and our future.