The future of environmentalism in Connecticut just might be economic development.

At the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters' 12th Annual Environmental Summit in Hartford Tuesday afternoon, it was growth, not blocking bulldozers, that got the old hands and activists chattering.

Recycle Hawai'i has donated 25 "Earth Patriot" CD's to Earth Protect new members. The reward givaway begins December 1, 2011.

Earth Patriot is performed by Kumanu and addresses global environmental and social issues.

Mark Tercek knows a thing or two about money. For years he worked at the mega investment firm Goldman Sachs, where he headed the Corporate Finance and Equity Capital Markets divisions, and later went on to found the company’s Center for Environmental Markets. Since 2008, he’s been the president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. Given his background as a Wall Street titan, it’s not surprising that Tercek has taken his market mentality to TNC and tried to focus its efforts on making an economic case for preserving wild places.

Throughout history, artists have joined forces with political movements to battle injustice and demand a better and more beautiful world. Picasso's "Guernica" captured the horrors of the German bombing of civilians in 1937. "Solidarity Forever," "We Shall Overcome," and "Give Peace a Chance" expressed the optimism and power of the labor, civil rights, and peace movements. Delacroix's "Liberty Leading the People" embodied the utopian fervor of the French Revolution. Shepard Fairey's Obama "Hope" silkscreen during the 2008 election captured America's yearning for a more visionary politics.