In a rousing speech, keynote presenter Phil Angelides, National Chairman of the Apollo Alliance, former California State Treasurer and 2006 nominee for governor, evoked the promise of a building a green economy that offers good jobs with real growth potential.

"We're making the kind of commitment John F. Kennedy made when he launched the first Apollo Mission," he said. "In the middle of the Cold War and with serious economic troubles, America went for an impossible dream, just as we're doing now."