Nine years ago today, we launched the Pickens Plan. We knew we had a great idea, and people across the country agreed. We’d held focus groups and found that Americans knew about the problem, but saw that the country lacked an energy plan. They were hungry for something that would work, a specific energy plan that included a little bit of everything — solar, wind, and natural gas.

For the final podcast on the history of the Pickens Plan, I talk with Peter McCollum, strategic communicator and Partner at Whistle Lake Public Affairs, and Jason Huntsberry, President & CEO of Schenck Foods Co. Although they referred to themselves as “little cogs in a big machine,” they were a major part of the tight-knit team that makes the Pickens Plan tick.

They discuss with me the process of going from idea to plan, navigating bumps and setbacks, and of course, learning a thing or two about the future of energy along the way.

Jason recalls “being in Kansas and seeing 3,000 people in the middle of the day, blue-collar workers, white-collar workers, showing up to meet an 80-year-old billionaire from Texas to hear about renewable energy. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

That’s the kind of support I’ve seen across the country over the past nine years. The national conversation around energy has moved forward because you understand this simple, but important idea: If it works, let’s use it. If it’s American, we’ll use it. And it’s all coming together and happening now.

Subscribe to the Pickens Podcast on AudioBoom or iTunes, and let me know what you think via Twitter @BoonePickens.