Green: The New Red, White & Blue

This is the name of the article which Thomas Friedman wrote at the start of last year and was published in New York Times(http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org/news/news_detail.cfm?id=48) . Let me first make the words of this title clear to the reader: Red White & Blue are the colors from which American flag is made and Friedman is this article contended that Green Energy will define what America will be in the future.

Like his earlier initiative called The World is Flat, it can be said that Friedman has sometimes trivialised a lot of things in this latest push as well. But what is important is the fact that when you read this article and watch his documentary called Addicted to Oil, you know very clearly what he is talking about. The strength of the argument lies in in its simplicity and its timing. He has a very nice way of coining terms for the issues involved and it works. Ask majority of Americans about what their opinion is about globalization and you would find that some it might have been shaped by the World is Flat. Same goes for this article and the documentary on Discovery Channel. Friedman is pushing an important issue to forefront of public debate here in America.

Today, green, or alternative, energy is important for America from two perspectives:

1) Petrodollars feed the rogues regimes that fuel the dictators and harbor the terrorists. Friedman rightly observes that every time the price of oil has gone up in last 50 years, democracy levels in middle east and other parts of the world where oil is found has gone down. Look around at regimes like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, Algeria, Nigeria, Venezuela and it doesn't take much effort to understand why they are shouting at the top of their voices. You can systematically map the ascent of Putin and his iron hand policies to the price of oil. America and countries like China & India are addicted to oil and when oil is bought on international markets, it ultimately ends up in the pockets of rogue regimes. The day we have an alternative energy source, these regimes would find it difficult to fund their activities because they will first have to feed their people. None of these countries is capable of even producing a safety pin and it won't be long when the need for change would be really felt.

2) America has lost its moral leadership with a very unpopular war in last 4 years. If America can lead the world towards innovation in green technologies and become the frag bearer for Kyoto Protocol, the world would be truly indebted. Today, America has the monetary and the intellectual capital to produce a massive breakthrough in this space. This issue needs America's leadership and America desperately needs issues through which it can regain its lost leadership. What is needed is the push from government of the size seen during Manhattan Project and Apollo Mission to the Moon. Complement this with tax breaks for fewer carbon missions and already existing private capital in this space, and we are not very far away from a massive change.

Using a gas guzzling Hummer is not macho and is definitely not American for the reasons listed above. Green is the New Red, White & Blue.