Maybe it's the start of the holiday season, which has long been recognized to increase stress. Or perhaps it was the news from India where terrorists killed almost 200 people and injured hundreds more. Whatever the cause, I've found myself getting preachy of late.

In my day job, I counsel my colleagues to stay positive, to focus on the solutions that each and every one of them is putting forward to generate real progress for our environmental challenges. And I've tried to do the same thing with my writings on Switchboard.

But it is all too easy to slip into anger and preachiness when reading about last-minute land grabs and regulations proposed by the Bush administration or continued intransigence by the dirty fuel and auto industries. Earlier this week, it was a piece in the Washington Post titled "The Car of the Future -- but at a Price" that made me question the future.

The story by reporter Steve Mufson includes a colorful quote from James Womack, a longtime management expert who has written extensively about the auto industry.

"You'd think from reading the media that we have had a burial ceremony at Arlington cemetery for the last pickup truck," Womack said. "I can easily imagine three years from now when the public is focused on a new set of priorities . . . that this whole thing would go poof."

Our national attention span is indeed short. And perhaps that most of all is makes me feel a bit preachy. The idea that all of the promise that has been inspired by technological change and new business leadership and the pledges of energy and climate action by President-elect Obama could in fact all dissipate into nothingness. It has happened before: Jimmy Carter, for example, had solar panels installed on the White House roof. Ronald Reagan instantly took them down.

What's different now? Will a worldwide economic crisis take us into a new future? Will technology make the difference? A President of my generation? All of the above?

It is my bet that it will be President Obama harnessing the opportunity of crisis and power of technology. As he told delegates to a climate meeting in California a few weeks ago:

"Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all. Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response. The stakes are too high. The consequences, too serious. Stopping climate change won't be easy. It won't happen overnight. But I promise you this: When I am President, any governor who's willing to promote clean energy will have a partner in the White House. Any company that's willing to invest in clean energy will have an ally in Washington. And any nation that's willing to join the cause of combating climate change will have an ally in the United States of America."

Those realistic yet hopeful words more than anything else should be enough to counter any feelings of stress or negativity. Whenever I start sounding all preachy again -- and I will -- please feel free to remind me to reread them once again.