Major car companies are starting to vote on their choice for the "car and fuel of the future" with big bets on manufacturing capacity.  The winner, no surprise, is going to be highly efficient plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and pure electric vehicles (see, for instance, "Everything you could want to know about plug-in and EV announcements at Detroit auto show").

Plug-ins and EVs are a core climate solution, since electric drives are more efficient, easily powered by carbon-free energy, and far cheaper to operate per mile than gasoline or any alternative fuel, especially hydrogen, even when running on renewable power. And they are the key alt-fuel strategy needed to deal with the energy/economic security threat of rising dependence on imported oil and the inevitably grim impacts of peak oil (see "Why electricity is the only alternative fuel that can lead to energy independence").

No surprise, then, that Toyota is planning on a major rollout of its plug in:

Toyota Motor Corp plans to start mass producing plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2012, with a projected first-year output of about 20,000 to 30,000 units, the Nikkei business daily reported on Saturday.

We also have some details on the cost and all-electric range of the Toyota plug in:

Toyota wants to price its plug-in hybrids at a comparable price to Mitsubishi Motors Corp's all-electric car, which debuts this month to fleet customers in Japan at 4.59 million yen ($47,800) before government subsidies, the Nikkei said, without citing sources....

Toyota's plug-ins will be able to run 20-30 km (12.4-18.6 miles) on battery power alone at full charge, the paper said.

It always bears repeating that after the battery charge is exhausted, the car will revert to being a highly fuel-efficient "conventional" hybrid that runs on gasoline.

Toyota appears to be making a shrewder decision on the all-electric range than GM, which says it is giving the Chevy Volt a too-large 40-mile capacity (see "Has GM overdesigned the Volt: Is a 40-mile all electric range too much?" and "CMU study suggests GM has wildly oversized the batteries in the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid").

Ford had made clear in its restructuring plan last year that the future fuel is electrons (see "Whose bailout plan is best: Ford drops hydrogen while GM remains confused about ethanol"):

The next major step in Ford's plan is to increase over time the volume of electrified vehicles, as battery costs improve and as the transition from Hybrids to Plug-in Hybrids to Battery Electric Vehicles occurs.

Now Reuters reports:

Ford plans to introduce a battery-powered commercial van in 2010, a battery-powered small car the following year and a plug-in hybrid to challenge General Motors Corp's highly touted Volt starting in 2012.

Those plans put utilities and battery companies "at the center of the universe" for automakers, [Ford CEO Alan] Mulally said.

Ford, the first of the U.S. automakers to roll out a hybrid, has made a renewed commitment to the technology a centerpiece of its turnaround plans....

Within a decade, automakers and utility companies expect to make commonplace two-way communication between vehicles and an interactive utility power grid that will solidify their cooperation.

Utilities are expected to install millions of "smart meters" at homes that would signal the car's computer when the power grid is strained, and power expensive, so charging can be suspended.

For now, the goal is simply to convince motorists to plug in, said Nancy Gioia, Ford's director of hybrid vehicle programs.

Gioia projects that "from 10 to 25 percent" of Ford's production by 2020 will be some type of electrified vehicle.

General Motors, of course, has long been touting its efforts to electrified vehicles:

GM, now operating under a federally funded bankruptcy, has also pledged to have more plug-in hybrids and even pure electric vehicles for city driving in the future....

Britta Gross, GM's director of global energy systems and infrastructure commercialization, would not offer a percentage for plug-ins and other types of electric cars, but said GM would "do the heavy lifting" trying to meet the moonshot-like goal set by President Barack Obama to have 1 million plug-in hybrids on U.S. roads by 2015.

Finally, we can move beyond the rhetorical hype about what low-carbon alternative fuel vehicles American consumers might be driving in the foreseeable future, and on to the manufacturing and practical reality of plug-ins and EVs.

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Is that a banana seat or are you just happy to see me?
The best part about World Naked Bike Day: No awkward spandex shorts. The worst part about World Naked Bike Day: No awkward spandex shorts.

(Click below to see the next item in this week’s Grist List—or view them all on a single page.)

Photo: Paul-in-London via Flickr

No scoop for you!
Finally, the perfect icebreaker for those awkward climate-change conversations with your kids: Snow Cones Are Forever (or are they ... mwahahaha!).

Photo: Elvis John Ferrao via Flickr

Lambor-greenie?
Question: Does driving a hybrid Lamborghini make you more or less pretentious than a Prius driver?

Photo: Heidi KenneyPlush delivery
If a stitch in time saves nine, think what 20 "fiber artists" can do for the Arctic ... Talk about fancy, Schmancy!

True story
"Now you can finally enjoy reading e-books without giving up the smell you love so much. With Smell of Books™ (a revolutionary new aerosol e-book enhancer), you can have the best of both worlds: the convenience of an e-book and the smell of your favorite paper book."

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In honor of national Bike to Work Week, I shot some helmet cam footage of my hybrid bike in action. Hills and cars are the bane of bikers everywhere. One problem at a time I always say.

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Insight in sight

I took this picture with my cell phone. It was in the parking lot of a private school. This is really good news. For years, kids were being dropped off here in $65,000 Toyota LandCruisers and every other kind of expensive car you can think of. Nowadays the relatively inexpensive Prius is the most common car found in this lot, which may be the first time in American history where a car has attained status based on its gas mileage.

Anyone who follows my rants knows I'm not a fan of supply side energy solutions. Efficiency gains are vastly superior from both cost and environmental perspectives than trying to pump up supplies of energy with things like new coal plants and agrofuels.

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Like many other urban places, Seattle will welcome an electric vehicle network to the Emerald City.

In a nonexclusive partnership with Nissan North America, the city of Seattle will promote the development of electric-charging infrastructure.

"The city is committed to creating an environment that is kind to EVs," said Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels (D).

However, the agreement between the manufacturer and the municipality does not go so far as to commit to any specifics. Instead, Nissan will take the lead in establishing local working groups to evaluate sites for possible charging stations. The city will in turn "consider" adopting those suggestions.

The announcement of the partnership also revealed the city's plans to mandate residential permits for EV home charging stations. This news was met with surprise from Plug In America director Dan Davids. "I charge my EV in an old dryer outlet in my garage," he said. "I don't know anything about a permit."

Permitting issues aside, the concept EV that Nissan intends to introduce in the Seattle area in 2010 will charge on a standard 220-volt line and go 100 miles on a four-hour charge, said Mark Perry, director of product planning and strategy for Nissan North America.

When pressed for details on the number of vehicles Nissan hopes to bring to the Seattle market or the amount of charging stations to expect or even how the permitting process will work, Perry responded, "it's day one of the partnership. Give us some time to figure it out."

Nissan-Renault has formed similar partnerships with the countries of Israel, Denmark, Portugal, Monaco, the U.K., France, Switzerland, Ireland, China, and Hong Kong. In the U.S., Nissan's Seattle partnership will further its campaign to dominate the West Coast EV scene with other projects in Oregon, California, and Arizona.

Since 2008, many countries and urban areas have begun to adopt electric vehicle networks. Better Place projects are the most well-known, but as in the case with Seattle's EV network, auto manufacturers have made parternships with municipalities to establish EV-friendly communities. Nissan does it a lot.

Nissan North America will offer its electric vehicles on the mass market starting in 2012.

In other green auto news ...

• Fiat of Fiat-Chrysler-Italian-savior-of-the-American-auto-industry fame is actually the world's leading producer of natural-gas engines. The automaker hopes to sell 120,000 natural-gas vehicles in Europe this year, and with T. Boone Pickens' very enthusiastic blessing, Fiat hopes to bring the technology to the U.S.

• Screw the economy, people want hybrids ... in Japan.

• Norway considers a proposal to start banning sales of fossil-fuel powered cars in 2015.

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In 2006, Neil Young released a powerful political album, "Living With War" -- an 11-track screed against the Iraq misadventure and the folly of sending young people off to die in faraway lands. It felt immediate, like Young had recorded it in a hurry, harkening back to CSNY's rapid-fire release of "Ohio" within a few weeks of the shootings at Kent State. Its polemical lyrics, bashing everything from George W. Bush to the mind-dead consumerism of America, were great, but they were icing on the cake. It was the music -- angry, raw, full of the powerful guitar that defines so much of Young's electric work -- that had me playing the album nonstop for days.

A whole album about green cars.Reprise RecNow Young has a new political album out, his first release since 2007's "Chrome Dreams II." Titled "Fork in the Road," this album is eco-themed -- a long tribute to America's budding green-car culture.

It's not a bad album, I suppose, but the muse needed to work up songs about biofuel just doesn't match the outrage that drove "Living with War." No surprise, really. War is hell, biofuel is just gas.

Young has been very public about his interest in green cars (he's a true green believer dating way back to the '70s with songs like "After the Gold Rush"). And the approach he brings is more likely to resonate with those who live beyond the coastal megacities. He's not preaching about Priuses or Teslas. No, this guy has converted a 1959 Lincoln Continental into an electric-biofuel hybrid -- a big boat of a car that speaks to our cultural longing for the open road and a hoodful of horsepower.

Out of that Lincoln's tailpipe, one assumes, came "Fork in the Road" (and a still-in-production film titled "LincVolt"). If you're a longtime Young fan like me, you won't be disappointed. There are at least three very good songs: "Johnny Magic," "Fork in the Road," and "Hit the Road" (you can hear the latter playing on the welcome screen of Young's official website). The rest of the songs are OK, though I challenge you not to roll your eyes when you hear the "fill 'er up" shout-out in "Fuel Line."

Overall, the lyrics on "Fork in the Road" are mostly cheerleading for a clean car future -- a future that, in Young's vision, can let American drivers feel like they're still maneuvering manly muscle cars.

As a Grist colleague has noted many times, music created with the intent of preaching the green message is overwhelmingly bad. "Fork in the Road" isn't bad, but it ain't gonna convert many Hummer lovers. And it probably won't impress many music lovers, either, other than the truly Neil-committed.

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Photo by Sara Barz.

Last Thursday, the UK government announced it would offer British citizens subsidies of 2,000-5,000 pounds ($2,900-7,500) for electric vehicles. To facilitate the adoption of electric vehicles, the government will set aside 20 million pounds ($30 million) to invest in electric-vehicle charging stations in city centers and high-traffic regions.

This is welcome news for many enviros and electric car manufacturers who lobbied hard to include electric-vehicle subsidies in the U.K.'s green recovery plan.  But from the perspective of U.S.-U.K. relations, doesn't it seem a little like an anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better gesture? President Obama announces a plug-in hybrid tax credit of $2,500-7,500, and two months later the Brits see us and up the ante with EVs. Maybe Gordon Brown is still miffed about the DVDs...

In other green auto news ...

• The EPA found that greenhouse-gas emissions pose a danger to the public and need to be regulated. Considering the automotive sector accounts for 20 percent of GHGs, the struggling industry will almost certainly be targeted.

Dave McCurdy, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said in a release that the automakers are willing to work with Obama, but he added one dig with respect to their distaste of multiple emissions standards: "We are hopeful that the Obama Administration can find ways to bridge state and federal concerns, and move all stakeholders towards an aggressive, national, fuel economy/greenhouse gas emissions program administered by the federal government."

• What do you get when you combine a Vespa with an old VW bus? A Thai motorized hauling tricycle that will soon be carrying goods and people around the Americaninterstate system. Tuk Tuk North America just announced it has received DOT and EPA approval to bring its 55-mpg, three-wheeled scooter-van (scootan? vanooter?) to the U.S.

• When it comes to clean vehicle R&D, the Obama administration has little patience with the Chevrolet Volt, but it is more than willing to throw $41.9 million at hydrogen R&D.

• Chrysler's restructuring plan indicates that the Dodge Circuit will be the company's first EV vehicle in production.

• Amory Lovins' research organization, the Rocky Mountain Institute, held a three-day design confab on improving the efficiency of long-haul trucking.  Increases in transportation-sector GHGs can largely be attributed to the trucking industry, but there are many technological and regulatory obstacles -- 14, according to RMI -- that get in the way of improving efficiency.

• According to the New York Times style section, we should all go (like the) Dutch, and accessorize for the Great Downturn with a "glossy black Dutch bicycle."

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Battery advances seems to be flowing as fast as electrons these days -- and super fast charging batteries may hit the market in as little as 2 to 3 years. And that's critical because the car of the very near future, plug in hybrids, are a core climate solution (see here). And electricity is the only alternative fuel that can lead to energy independence (here).

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology report in a March 12 Nature article, "Battery materials for ultrafast charging and discharging" (see here, $ub. req'd):

Impressive. You can read the M.I.T. release here. One of the biggest benefits to plug in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and electric vehicles is one not discussed by the researchers. As EV World editor Bill Moore explains:

It is also worth noting that the lithium chemistry M.I.T. is working with does not suffer from overheating, as current lithium batteries can.

The best news about M.I.T.'s advance is that "Because the material involved is not new -- the researchers have simply changed the way they make it -- Ceder believes the work could make it into the marketplace within two to three years." In that sense, this may be more of an innovation than a breakthrough, though neither term is well defined.

As for the ability to charge the entire PHEV or EV quickly, the authors note:

Well, 15 kilowatt-hours is about what the Chevy Volt needs -- but the GM plug in is designed to go 40 miles on a charge, and that is almost certainly a longer range than most other early PHEVs will have (see here). Of course, super fast charging is not really what PHEVs need to be viable. Lower cost is. Moore notes:

Currently, energy-dense battery packs (not cells) are estimated to cost approximately US$2,016/kWh, NEDO researchers estimate. By 2020, their goal is to achieve a price of one-tenth that figure and to increase the Watt hours/kg two-and-half times, from 100Wh/kg to 250Wh/kg.

That would be a game changer indeed.

And for folks who really want to some really far out stuff, how about a real "breakthrough" announcement -- a magnetic spin battery:

I generally don't post these way out "breakthrough" announcements since so few make it to commercial fruition. But it it is indicative of how exciting and vibrant -- and well funded -- the advanced battery sector is.

This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

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It seems everyone’s going green these days—but some couples are doubly committed to the cause. In honor of Valentine’s Day, we take a look at 14 prominent pairs who share a certain planetary passion.

Brad and Angie
Yes, the ever-expanding footprint of this family might raise a few eco-eyebrows, but they make up for it by, oh: green-rebuilding New Orleans, funding a wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia to the tune of $5 million, narrating a PBS series on green design, supporting Haiti’s Clean Streets Project, partnering with an eco-cosmetics company to raise funds for charity, and buying an organic winery (OK, that one’s a glittery indulgence). Angie reportedly ate organic to get back into shape after having the twins, and buys bamboo pants for her kidlets too! How do we get adopted?

Photo: Jerry Bauer

Michael Pollan and Judith Belzer
Let’s say you’re the country’s leading voice on food politics and sustainable agriculture. Wouldn’t it be convenient if your life partner were not, say, a PR flack for Big Ag, but a landscape painter? Indeed it would, which is why it’s lovely that Michael Pollan is married to Judith Belzer. The college sweethearts, who met in 1974, have pursued their overlapping passions through a 22-year marriage, several moves, and Pollan’s rise to fame. No slouch herself, Belzer landed solo exhibitions in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston while Pollan kept himself busy writing eye-opening titles like Omnivore’s Dilemma. As she wrote in one artist’s statement, “No one view of nature prevails because nature itself—not just the observer—is constantly changing.”

Portia and Ellen
Amiable talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres is, along with her partner Portia de Rossi (also known as “Really? Wow, good for her!”), raising awareness of a lifestyle that’s often marginalized by the mainstream. Yeah, we’re talking about veganism. After celebrating their marriage last year with a vegan ceremony, the two have apparently converted to a 100 percent vegan diet. De Rossi is designing a vegan shoe line, and DeGeneres promotes vegan companies on her show. Over the years, she’s also hosted eco-guests ranging from Al Gore to a six-year-old recycler from Columbia, S.C. Plus, did you see her dance with Obama? Maybe teh veganz are OK after all.

Ed Begley and Bill Nye
No, they’re not technically a couple. But thanks to their neighborly eco-spats, the actor and science guy have become nearly inseparable—in the media, at least. Taking the idea of “keeping up with the Joneses” to fierce new heights, Ed and Bill have made improvements to their respective homes that include solar panels, rain barrels, and recycled-milk-jug fencing—and broadcast their story every step of the way, to outlets ranging from USA Today to PBS. Skinny white homeowners unite!

Photo: Joli

Eddie Vedder and Kelly Slater
Another eco-bromance we’re wild about: the sun-and-fun-and-sustainability relationship between musician Vedder and pro surfer Slater. Besides frequently catching waves together, the two pair up to raise big bucks for reef protection and environmental awareness through the Kelly Slater Foundation. Vedder, in between songs at a benefit show for the foundation last year, explained his motivation: “Half of every song I’ve ever written was written in the ocean, so that’s sort of my way of giving back.”

Photo: TheHundreds.com

Erykah Badu and Jay Electronica
Soulful singer Badu, who’s been a vegetarian for 20 years, converted to veganism two years ago and has taken her family along for the ride; in one interview, she referred to her children as “vegan vegetarians, organic babies from birth.” Her charity organization, Beautiful Love Incorporated Non-Profit Development (BLIND), focuses on building culture and community in her hometown of Dallas; in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, she sponsored programs for young evacuees. On top of it all, Badu and her rapper boyfriend tweeted the birth of their child this month—think of all the paper they saved on birth announcements.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer and Margaret Kirkpatrick
The dreamily progressive, bow tie-sporting Congressman from Oregon is known for his vocal support of sustainable development, energy efficiency, clean water, and public transportation. His contagious enthusiasm has convinced fellow pols to join the 160-member Congressional Bicycle Caucus, which he founded upon being elected in 1996. And his wheel-vangelism apparently extends to his personal life: His wife “frequently bikes to work,” he told Outside Magazine last fall. Her job? She’s an environmental lawyer and VP at Northwest Natural Gas Co., vice chair of the Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission, and co-chair of the American Wind Energy Association Siting Committee. Now that’s a power couple.

Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton
When the actress and her playwright husband took over as artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company in 2007, they made greening the facility a priority. While it’s no small undertaking, the pair has made some headway—printing brochures on carbon-neutral paper and reviewing the waste-management contract—and still hopes to undertake a massive solar installation and water-system overhaul. The couple reportedly put $1.5 million into eco-renovations at their own home in Sydney, and Blanchett has been involved with Earth Hour and the Walk Against Warming. “As I see it,” she said in a 2008 interview with Marie Claire, “there’s no greater challenge we face as a species than dealing with climate change and its effects.”

Laura Dern and Ben Harper
The eco-leanings of this actress-rocker duo seem to have expanded with the addition of their two children, now 6 and 3. Dern is an active spokesperson for the Children’s Health Environmental Coalition, spreading the word about household toxics and how to avoid them. The two drive a hybrid (OK, two hybrids); Harper has also been spotted bike-hauling his daughter home from school. On the road, he tours in a biofuel bus, and his most recent CD was packaged entirely in recyclable materials. As committed as he is, Harper admits that his spouse leads the green charge, and told one interviewer, “She’s my environmental hero.”

Brian and Nancy Schweitzer
As governor of Montana, Brian Schweitzer has earned kudos for his ability to address environmental issues without sounding like some kind of—how to put this?—East Coast weenie. Since being elected in 2004, the gun-lovin’ former rancher has hit the national scene by talking up clean energy and staring down climate change. Back at home, he and his wife, both scientists by training, have launched an initiative to get the state’s children engaged in science, both in school and through programs like roadside signs, trading cards, and a youth forest monitoring program.

Pierce Brosnan and Keely Shaye Smith
There’s more to this green couple than their splashy Golden Globes arrival in a hydrogen-powered Beamer. The former James Bond met his future wife, an environmental journalist, while participating in an eco-campaign in Mexico. Since then, they’ve been actively involved in marine conservation, as well as fighting a proposed salt factory in Baja California and the LNG terminal off of Malibu. The couple has donated money and time to several green groups over the years, and taught their kids to compost. “I continue to be a student of the world,” Brosnan told [PDF] Bon Appetit last year when asked how he got interested in eco-causes—then listed his wife among the people who inspire him.

Barbara Kingsolver and Steven Hopp
The couple bared all in 2007’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, in which they chronicled a year of growing and locally sourcing food for themselves and their two daughters. But the book was no dilettantish dip into the eco-well. Kingsolver’s best-selling novels feature natural themes, and Hopp is an environmental studies professor with a vireo fixation. The “Hoppsolvers,” as they’ve jokingly referred to themselves, moved from Arizona to their farm in Virginia to escape the eco-unreality of a desert existence. They continue to blog about life on the farm, and retain a down-to-earth attitude. As Kingsolver puts it, “I’m sort of allergic to sanctimony.”

Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck
Their eco-efforts first struck us as modest: Yeah, Jennifer was spotted shopping at a farmers’ market. OK, Ben dressed up as an ear of corn for a flex-fuel film! (Don’t watch it. Seriously, you can’t get that 5:31 back.) And fine, Jennifer and Ben made PSAs for Live Earth. But then we read that The Dimpled One campaigned against former California Rep. Richard Pombo in 2006. “Our fight to unseat Richard Pombo is ... a fight for the ecological preservation of the United States,” Garner said at the time. “It’s a fight for the world I want my little girl to inherit.” Yes! Only now it’s little girls, plural—congrats, you sorta-committed cuties.

Michael and Mary Brune
As executive director of the Rainforest Action Network, Mike Brune has helped convince major companies including Home Depot and Goldman Sachs to change their business practices, protecting millions of acres of rainforest along the way. On the Huffington Post and in his recent book Coming Clean: Breaking America’s Addiction to Oil and Coal, he works to raise awareness about energy and conservation. Meanwhile, Brune’s wife Mary is an activist in her own right: she co-founded and is the director of Making Our Milk Safe, a member organization created in 2005 to raise awareness about industrial pollutants in breastmilk. The Brunes live in California with their two children; after having the first, Mary remarked that “we hope that she’ll be one more soldier on the front lines who’s going to fight for the Earth when she grows up.” With genes like this, the chances seem good.

Bono and Ali Hewson
In 1975, Paul Hewson met a girl and joined a band. The girl would become his wife; the band, U2. Over the years, the eco-causes taken up by Bono and Ali Hewson have included anti-nuclear activism, poverty and AIDS relief, and fair trade. In 2005, they launched EDUN, an eco-clothing line whose goal is to support sustainable business in the developing world.

Courtesy of New Belgium

Jeff Lebesch and Kim Jordan
We love a good love story, especially when it involves beer. In the early 1990s, Lebesch and Jordan turned a curiosity about amateur ale-making into New Belgium Brewing, the county’s fifth-largest craft brewer. The company is partially wind-powered, makes organic varieties, and gives bikes to its employees. Before going commercial, the Colorado couple hiked into the Rockies to write their mission statement; one of the 10 items is “honoring nature at every turn of the business.”

Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim
The co-creators of the Forum on Religion and Ecology, an international, multifaith organization that explores the connections between faith and environment, are giving voice to a key constituency in the green conversation. The Yale-based brains have edited several books on ecology and spirituality; Tucker is also a member of the Interfaith Partnership for the Environment at the United Nations Environment Program.

Photo: Bart Nagel

Kit Crawford and Gary Erickson
Seventeen years ago this month, Gary Erickson debuted a snack that became a household name: the Clif Bar. He and his wife, who both grew up camping and hiking, now serve as CEOs of the company; they count “sustain the planet” as one of the five tenets of their business. Now living in Napa Valley with their children, they’ve branched out into the wine business, with a focus on organic and sustainably farmed grapes.

Photo: Ode Magazine

Jurriaan Kamp and Helene de Puy
This Dutch duo co-founded Ode magazine in the mid-1990s, with an eye toward telling the other side of the news—the side that shows social, environmental, and economic promise. Since then, their publication for “intelligent optimists” has found an audience of 100,000, and in 2004, they moved to California to launch a U.S. version. Recent topics have ranged from green search engines to sustainable banking.

Photo: greencouple.com

The Green Couple
OK, it’s not exactly a business, but we couldn’t resist: these kids are young and in love—and in love with the planet. The self-dubbed Green Couple blogs from the heartland to show others that it’s possible to care for each other and the earth without spending a ton of money or getting overwhelmed. NSFW, but only if your boss doesn’t like hope and earnestness bleeding from the page.

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