By RAVI DYKEMA

As you read this the Olympics are over, as is the Democratic National Convention in Denver. But as I write, the Olympics are in full swing and the convention starts next week. These events coincide only every four years. Together, these history-making events open a window onto an amazing landscape: corporate mass marketing and presidential campaign ads.

As I watch the many ads on NBC's coverage of the Olympics, I marvel at how different the messages are compared to four years ago. Would the Republican candidate for president be advocating a sweeping shift to alternative energy, an ad that's almost identical to the Democratic candidate's? Would every automobile company be waving the green flag of environmentalism over their new lineup of cars and trucks? This is one: "The most affordable midsize hybrid " . . . Chevy Malibu. Built to drive. Built to love."

A cynic might whine that this is all hype to sell cars and candidates, and lacks conviction or substance. But I don't think so. Something big has happened, something I have been waiting for, working for, even dreaming about for many years.

Listen: "GM, it's what's now, it's what's next." "Subaru, built in a zero-landfill plant. Love, it's what makes a Subaru a Subaru." Over and over Olympics viewers are hearing a drumbeat of a new worldview, of what's next.

Another frequent advertiser on the Olympics broadcasts is The Strong American Schools advocacy group. Their ads are part of the "one nation left behind" campaign that promotes better science education. "We need educated people to help solve the difficult problems we face," their spokesperson says (I am paraphrasing).

Difficult problems? Four years ago we faced problems too. According to the Bush white house, global warming wasn't one of them. Neither was fuel efficiency. Neither was environmental preservation, nor alternative sources for energy generation. I wrote in my May-June '07 editorial, ONE year ago, that in '07 eighty-seven percent of Republicans in congress didn't believe our climate was warming because of human activity.

Difficult problems will be solved when we (enough of humanity) agree on those problems, as I see it. THAT's what's changed. At least the Obama and McCain campaign advisors think so, as evidenced by their appeal in their ads to people who care about energy issues. Car company execs certainly think so. They have always implied in their ads that you'll "love" their cars--the looks, the handling, the power, the safety features. But now you'll "love" your Subaru or Chevy because of its (and your) gentle presence in a stressed world.

I'll grant you that gas prices, food prices, oil insecurity, and extreme weather have done their part to inspire the current slate of concerns among Americans. But I sense a deeper current pushing us toward agreement.

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG) chose the slogan "One world, One dream" for the games. "It conveys the noble ideal of people in Beijing as well as in China to share their civilization and create a bright future hand in hand with people from the rest of the world," said Liu Qi, president of BOCOG in June of 2005.

Creating a bright future, hand in hand, only works if the two hands are headed in the same direction. Maybe, just maybe, humanity's growing awareness that we share a planet, that we share a thin layer of air, water, and soil, and that we share responsibility for the creatures that swim, fly, crawl and walk in this brittle biosphere with us, maybe this awareness of all we share will open our hearts, and "One World, One Dream" won't just be a slogan of the 2008 Olympics.