By John SutterNew York Times columnist Thomas Friedman joked that he felt somewhat out of place giving a lecture on the coming “green revolution” in an oil and gas state like Oklahoma.
In a speech in downtown Oklahoma City today, the Pulitzer Prize winner said that America won’t know that the environmental revolution has come until “you see bodies by the side of the road.” Those will be the bodies of oil and gas companies, which may not be able to adapt to the clean energy era, he said.
Friedman’s overall message, though, was one of optimism. He laid out a number of crises facing the world — climate change, biodiversity loss, overpopulation — and said that the United States and Oklahoma are amply equipped to tackle the problems with the right support from the state and federal governments. The country and state’s success in doing so will decide who controls global politics and succeeds in the world economy this century, he said.
“You can see these as problems or you can see them as the bird of the demand for a whole new industry,” he said. “Our country, the United States of America, has to lead this industry.”
The goal of this new world order? “Who can invent a source of abundant, cheap, clean, reliable electrons.”
Friedman, who is promoting his new book, “Hot, Flat and Crowded,” said all sectors of the economy, including energy companies, can be part of the change. But he said current efforts to green the economy are more of a self-aggrandizing party than a genuine revolution. He referenced a litany of “green” self-help books with tips on saving the planet and products as obscure as “vegan condoms and solar-powered vibrators,” which are supposed to denote a new era of environmental thinking.
Forces of environmental change are bubbling up from the bottom of America, he said, but “brain-dead” politicians in Washington D.C. have not acted in a proportional manner.
He advocated for a tax on carbon, which he said would put a true cost on the pollution, health risks, climate change, biodiversity loss, loss of national security and lessened respect in the world that fossil fuels create for the United States and around the world.
Friedman likened this energy and environment revolution to the Internet and technology movement of the 1990s. The difference, he said, is that clean energy offers no functional benefit over dirty energy — your lights work the same whether coal or wind powered them. Computer groups offered new products with entirely new functions. As such, energy deserves a push from the government to get started, he said, adding that he has more faith in the power of American innovation and capitalism than government forces to make the changes necessary. Both revolutions will have to operate by a “change or die” philosophy, he said.
He railed against politicians, including John McCain, who are preaching drilling for more oil as the solution to the energy crisis. That is analogous to companies at the dawn of the computer revolution calling for more typewriters and better carbon-copy paper, he said. (See video at top of post for more on that)
The foreign affairs columnist referenced the fact that Oklahoma biofuels and agriculture can play a part in the “green revolution.” He also mentioned U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, by name on several occasions. Inhofe has become known nationally for saying global warming is a “hoax.” Friedman said Inhofe is wrong on that point, but, whatever you believe about global warming, America needs to become more efficient to tackle environmental problems and to ensure it has a top spot in the global economy.
He listed several major problems facing the world. All can be dealt with through innocation and market forces, with a government push, he said.
I’ll list some below:
1. Climate change: The weather is becoming “weirder,” not necessarily hotter, he said. Places that are hot are getting hotter, places that are dry are getting drier, places that are wet are getting wetter, and hurricanes are getting stronger, he said. He also said climate models are becoming more and more troublesome over time. For instance, it recently was thought that ice in the Arctic Circle would disappear by 2050. Current projections say that’s more likely to happen in 2012, he said.
2. Biodiversity: According to Conservation International, a new species goes extinct every 20 minutes. “We are the first generation that is going to have to think like Noah, and save the last two pairs” of animals of each species, he said.
3. Petropolitics: The U.S. spends $700 billion supporting some of the worst regimes on earth, he said. That’s because we have to buy their oil. “We’re in a war on terrorism and we’re funding both sides,” he said.
4. Energy and Natural Resources: Friedman said there are “too many American carbon copies” in the world, meaning that more people in developing countries want to live like Americans — they want to have big houses, drives cars over long distances and use lots of electricity. There aren’t enough resources around for that to happen, he said, and new America-like places are sprouting up all the time.
“If we don’t redefine what it means to be an American in resource terms, you’re going to see resource demand go through the roof,” he said.
5. Population Growth: There will be a billion more people on earth by 2020, and not enough resources to go around.
Some basics: Friedman’s speech was sponsored by the business school at Oklahoma State University as part of a lecture series. Tickets were $75, and the talk mostly was attended by older people who were wearing suits. A number of students also came.
Friedman is not the final word on these subjects, of course, although he is a well-known authority on globalization and global politics. Student groups have protested his talks in the past, saying that his support for military intervention in the Middle East and his usually hands-off global economic policies, which some say hurt the world’s poor. Students from Brown University reportedly threw a pie in his face recently (the clip is on youtube).
I’d love to hear what you all think about his talk. People in the audience seemed to give a mixed response, with most standing to applaud at the end, but no crazy cheers or anything like that. Nearly 900 people registered for the event.
