Yesterday's Climate Desk Live briefing—titled "How the US Navy Is Leading the Charge on Clean Energy and Climate Change"—told a different kind of environmental story from the one we're used to hearing. It was an "optimistic story," as panelist Julia Whitty, Mother Jones' environmental correspondent, put it—of a powerful institution, the Navy, adapting to the demands of a changing energy future simply because it's pragmatic, and because it makes sense.

The full video is below, but here are a few highlights:

"Intestinal fortitude" and pubs on Navy ships: One perk of Julia Whitty's aircraft carrier-based reporting experience (which she chronicles in the current cover story in Mother Jones) was a Navy issued "Nimitz Tailhook Certificate," which commended her for:

NAFOD (No Apparent Fear of Death) and intestinal fortitude in examining the entire spectrum of air approach parameters while successfully completing an arrested landing aboard USS NIMITZ with less than mortal injury.

"I have a short list of what I'd save from my house if it was on fire, and I think this is one of those," said Whitty of the certificate.

Whitty also discussed why the Royal Australian Navy has pubs on its ships, but the American one does not. Oh, and a few serious things—such as the importance of the US Navy's ongoing clean-energy transition. "The Navy is tackling problems that freeze Congress solid," writes Whitty in her Mother Jones piece. "What it learns, what it implements, and how it adapts and innovates will drive market changes that could alter the course of the world."

Watch Whitty discuss her reporting on the Navy here:  http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/02/us-navy-spends-4-bil...