From 007 to Austin Powers, we love a good spy story. What’s not to like? Intrigue. Cool gadgets. Polar bears. State secrets.

“Wait,” you say. “Polar bears?”

That’s right. U.S. military satellites aren’t just focused on Russia and rogue states…They also keep a close eye on the states of former rogue veep nominees. Alaska, home to more than just Palins and polar bears, is also the front-line when it comes to global warming, as evidenced by previously-secret images of melting sea ice off the states' coast.

Is this a sign of things to come? Is the clean energy revolution taking root even as Dirty Coal tries to scare the daylights out of us by spending millions on astroturfing and a fear campaign?

Big Oil and Dirty Coal are making quite a name for themselves as they spend millions on pulling out all the stops to keep America addicted to toxic fuels. By now you’ve probably read about what we’re up against as we pivot from our clean energy and climate victory in the House to what we hope is an even bigger win in the Senate.

Usually a beehive of well-dressed, black-berried staffers, reporters and lobbyists, Capitol Hill was noticeably calmer last week. Many Congressional staffers came to work in jeans, flip flops and other small but significant signals that August recess is upon us.

Amid this calm before the storm of the fall legislative calendar, one drumbeat was consistent as I visited office after office last week in my role as policy advisor for climate change for The Wilderness Society: the phones have not stopped ringing.

Taking a break from my morning dose of DC wonk-news, I scanned some papers from the real world and came across this headline in the Oregonian: Efficiency can help NW meet 85% of new electricity demand.