Politicians want to pick his brain, women want to play with his ponytail; as social movement movers and shakers go, Drinking Liberally co-founder Justin Krebs is a virtual whirling dervish of democratic dynamism (while I, alas, am a compulsive abuser of alliteration.)
He’s faster than a speeding blog post! More powerful than a local motormouth! Able to leap tall blowhards in a single soundbite!
In his spare time, when he’s not busy building community, defending democracy, and Living Liberally, the charismatic Krebs is a cultural impresario and all-around-stand-up guy (literally–in his spare time, he does comedic improv.) Justin also co-founded the non-profit performing arts space The Tank, a Tribeca mecca for grassroots good times and “an incubator of hip, indie, up-and-comers in the arts,” according to Harvard magazine .
It’s ludicrous how many lives this George Bailey-on-steroids has touched. He’s amassed a stockpile of social capital that politicians and entrepreneurs twice his age would love to have, and he’s not even thirty.
Oh, wait”actually, as of last Friday, he is thirty. So several hundred folks, myself included, turned out to celebrate this milestone on Friday night. Friends, family, and fans gathered at the Baruch College Performing Arts Center in Manhattan for an evening that included comedy, music, poetry, and improv from some of Justin’s sprawling social circle, followed by a pub crawl which ended, fittingly, at Rudy’s, the bar where Drinking Liberally was born.
As a New Jersey tot attending Mondale rallies in short pants and Buster Browns (well, that’s how I picture him, anyway), Justin dreamed of one day becoming a baseball player, a cryptozoologist, an inventor, and/or President of the United States. The baseball thing’s probably not gonna happen, now, but he’s stepped up to the plate in a thousand other ways. And as for Justin’s desire to study mythical and extinct beasts, well, why hunt for Big Foot when you could be documenting the real dinosaurs dragging us down into the petro-primordial ooze and making the earth tremble under their monstrously Big (Carbon) Footprints?
Justin did become an inventor, of sorts. When he co-founded Drinking Liberally with Emmy award-winning filmmaker Matt O’Neill back in 2003, they hit on a new formula to help like-minded progressives connect and strengthen their social ties by meeting up at a regular time and place to share topical talk and a good brew. There are now 240 Drinking Liberally chapters meeting up in bars in 45 states across the country, giving thousands of liberals an anchor in an era when so many of us feel alone and adrift.
Drinking Liberally formed the foundation for the franchise we now call Living Liberally, which includes Blogging Liberally, Eating Liberally, Laughing Liberally, Reading Liberally, Screening Liberally, and the newest additions to the family, Crafting Liberally and Shooting Liberally (we are nothing if not inclusive!)
Until I met Justin it had never occurred to me that my frustration with the status quo could be used to help fuel a social movement. The closest I came to getting political when I was in my twenties was a fling with a member of the Dead Kennedys. I was a passivist, not an activist.
But with Justin’s encouragement, my husband Matt Rosenberg and I launched Eating Liberally about a year and a half ago, giving us the chance to inspire and influence thousands of people (I’ve even convinced my stepmom to buy cage-free eggs! My friends at the Humane Society would be so pleased.) This is how change happens, a bit and a bite”and a byte”at a time.
On Friday night, Justin gave a brief off-the-cuff speech in which he confessed to some distress about turning 30. He noted that most of those in attendance were people he had only met in the past decade”a great period in his own life but a terrible ten years for our country. As an idealistic and civic-minded youth, he had expected that by the time he turned 30, things would have just naturally gotten progressively better.
Oh well. His anxiety about his age, and the age that we’re living in, is countered by his faith that we can get this country back on track. Justin’s just the kind of leader who can inspire slackers like me to get engaged, so there’s no telling what he’ll accomplish in the next ten years.
Will he ever become President? I’m afraid he just might. And that scares me, because while I don’t harbor any political aspirations myself, he’d probably convince me to become his Secretary of Sustainability, and then I’d have to figure out where to hide the compost bins and the rain barrels in the Rose Garden and try to find the most flattering fluorescent light bulbs for the Oval Office and so on and so forth. I can barely handle being a blogger. But Justin has a way of getting people to do things. And that’s how things get done. Happy Birthday, Justin, and thank you for changing my life. I think.
Find out more about Drinking Liberally and its offshoots at drinkingliberally.org. 
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Tagged as:Activism • Blogging Liberally • community building • Crafting Liberally • Drinking Liberally • eating liberally • Justin Krebs • Laughing Liberally • Living Liberally • politics • Reading Liberally • Screening Liberally • Shooting Liberally • social networking • The Tank
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I want to be President Obama Secretary of Sustainability and Long Term Planning
Has anyone ever never seen the US government communicate a long term unified vision and then describe how every piece of legislation, each part of the tax plan, and how each executive order they proposed tie into that long term vision? NO. And that is why this executive branch needs to start integrating all of its different parts under one umbrella to help ensure the US will be a major player on this planet in the coming decades. The auto industry is a great example of what bad planning and no vision can do to a large entity. The US could suffer the same fate if it does not start to make some radical changes that will keep it competitive in the global environment.
The globe has limited resources and how we as a planet use the resources is going to determine if our species makes it another 2000 years. The US plays an enormous role is setting the global tone when it comes to lifestyle, manufacturing standards, and consumption rates across the industrialized and non industrialized countries. The US needs to take this yoke of sustainability very seriously as it may be the weakest link in Americas rusting suit of armor. If the US cannot figure out how to balance our energy usage, our waste production, and our resource consumption soon we are going to become incredibly overburdened by inefficiency and high over head costs. This will drive academia, business, and residents away in droves and they search for the next country where dreams come true.
The Secretary of Sustainability and long term planning position needs to be created and be equal in power to the chief of staff and secretary of state. If you have no business you have no tax revenue. If environmental issues drive catastrophic change to the eastern seaboard you have no tax revenue. If we don’t get a long term plan together and start working to it in 20 years when I want to retire this country will have no tax revenue! You can’t fix roads, you can’t help other countries, you can’t incentivize growth, and you can’t decrease the national debt without tax revenue. This cabinet position would therefore be just as important as the current positions but would be created with the sole purpose of unifying the current secretaries’ individual goals into one vision and taking the cabinet, the president, and the legislature to task when they are not aligned to the vision. This secretary would also need to work with the white house communication staff and department leaders to flow this plan out to the public and to all government employees. This secretary is also responsible for helping guide the residents of the US in a more sustainable direction.
Many large corporations who need to look 30 years into the future to understand where their customers will be have started seeing energy and sustainability as major components of their future offerings. Google, GE, Boeing, DuPont, and GM have created Vice President positions within their respective companies to deal with these emerging needs. The Obama government will need this insight and the current cabinet positions only offer parts of this picture.
I want to be President Obama Secretary of Sustainability and Long Term Planning
http://www.linkedin.com/myprofile?locale=en_US&report%2Esuccess=-vVpM-koAJi3iOI2oXfnNmuRG-VK4Hl523eSJntqGv034HlbHze1Jn01KG8I3zk5
I have the educational background to look at problems from many different points of view. Aerospace being my primary professional background is rooted in looking long term and driving efficiency in every project. I want to bring that type of strategic thinking to this country and to the president’s cabinet.
sustainabilitysecretaryI have the energy to steer the president’s cabinet and this country in a more sustainable direction and the fortitude to hold influential leaders to an agreed upon long term plan. I have worked with leaders from across the country to build long term visions and the detailed plans that will help realize those visions for many different projects. This has involved working with many “A” type personalities from diverse backgrounds to bring the team to a consensus by documenting agreements and listening to each point of view.
I have the patience to wait for the right time to push and issue and to have the right conversation on my terms. I also have the ability to learn from and listen to the people around me. This trait is the single largest asset I can bring to the Obama cabinet.
I am a very quick learner that has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. I will remained reserved until I feel I have collected enough facts to comment or judge a situation. I can start to add value to a team in days rather than weeks and can be brought up to speed on any tool quicker than my peers.
I am a very driven person who can accomplish anything I set my mind to. My number one motivator is frustration. When things are not being done correctly or are being done very inefficiently I feel that I have three choices; I could walk away and forget it is happening, I could just live with the way things are being done, or I can try and fix the situation. I almost always choose the latter. Thus how this country has been managed has been a disgrace that I often find comical, till I remember that it is my country that is shooting itself in the foot for the thousandth time.
After assessing the past 3 administration I find a very surprising lack of a long term vision for the US. Maybe these administrations had one and did not communicate to the masses or maybe I am just an ignorant person, but I have never seen a plan. Oh, I have seen bills with sunset dates, and minimum limit increases by such and such a date. But I have never seen an encompassing vision that ties all of the bills, the budgets, the aid packages, and the tax plans together. How is this possible? How do we, the US with all of our brain power not have a well communicated long term strategy for the country? I would like to be the person that helps create this 10 year sustainable strategy for the Obama administration, and for myself so that this country can really start to get productive and the world will have a good example to follow.
I asked my grandfather when the last time he believed in a presidential candidate as opposed to voting for the lesser of two evils, his response “Eisenhower.” I was not to keen with either candidate’s campaign, but I have been thoroughly impressed by how Mr. Obama has been attacking this transition phase of his first term. I am starting to believe in what his administration could accomplish. For this reason I would like to offer my services, drive and knowledge to make sure this administration is a success.