The Green Revolution: Indifference and Ignorance is Not an Option

I would like to consider myself well-read but in my eighteen years on this planet, and the availability hundreds of years of printed work; I think I will settle for adventurous reader. I have read countless books from science fiction to magical realism. As I begin to examine my role the world around me less as an observer and more as a participant I am finding the quest for understanding. This is by no stretch of the imagination easy to understand or even comprehend. I think at times the smartest thing I can do sometimes is ignore what I have been taught, stop, listen, observe, formulate and learn. The world we live in is a complex, multifaceted, and astounding as so should my grasp of it. For the time being I have dropped much of my favorite literature in search of material that will help me appreciate and recognize the world for what it really is.
Perhaps the best way to illustrate this point is through example. Throughout my academic career I have heard the term globalization thrown around. The word itself sounds stuffy and academic. After discussions in high school, I can tell you that globalization is good, globalization means progress. My understanding of the word itself is paradoxal in nature, it is simultaneously concrete and intangible. I was watching the Daily Show and I saw Milton Freedman speech. He seemed to have substantial idea of globalization. I went out that afternoon and bought his Hot Flat and Crowded.
Friedman writes in such a clear, practical and applicable way that it was an amazing book to start expanding my knowledge of globalization. He speaks at length of the growing trends of overpopulation, over speculation, and the energy crisis. He is quite clear on the fact that the world is forever changed. We need to stop contextualizing everything as what it used to be, and move forward it what it could become. He is able to do so in a way that is not at all pessimistic and strangely practical. He is able to pull off a coherent argument without sounding like he has a particular agenda. After the first chapter, I was sold.
Out of his book I pulled out two major themes, or more precisely two attitude changes that are required for America to secure its place in the future global economy. First we need to change our ideas about what green means. The phrase green revolution has adopted this negative connotation. Green revolution is reserved for those crazy lofty idealists at Berkeley, who skip finals to live in a tree. In this way we have specifically trivialized the need for renewable energy. We need to get as serious about the green revolution as this country did over communism. We are due for a complete overhaul of ideas from the personal to the intuitional level. Other countries are on the way; soon we will be left in the dust.
The second major theme is the change in the anti-intellectualism in this country. When times are hard, it can be difficult to explain the need to spend billions on science. When people are losing their jobs, schools are closing, towns are dying everywhere, the last thing people want to here is three billion dollars to fruit fly research (as was evident in Sarah Palin’s dense gotcha points in the 08 election season). There is massive distrust in the country of intellectuals; their work is seen as trivial and impractical. At times it almost seems like class warfare. However without spending money on science and development how can we ever help to grow and expand in this country? Even more daunting, in the age of development how do we expect to maintain without spending money on science? Friedman proposes a “nationalization” of green think tanks. “Throwing crazy dollars at every idea, in every garage, that we have 100,000 people trying 100,000 things, five of which might work, and two of which might be the next google” (Friedman 87). In my attempt to understand his meaning, I have likened it to the Manhattan Project. The government took initiative, hired the greatest minds, and more importantly new minds to get the job done. The government took responsibility for intellectual growth.
I evaluated other reviews of this book after writing my thoughts above. I found in general most people agreed with me (some even used similar quotations). The major criticism of people was that Friedman charged the government with the bill for these massive changes and not private industry. I disagree with these criticisms completely. I believe Friedman does an excellent job in outlining how private industry has failed. When the electric car first hit the market, it was little more than a golf cart, but it had potential. Big car companies bought up the patent killed the project and build bigger. Private industry had not incentive to go green (and look where it got them, building bigger cars while gas prices soared, amazingly poor planning GM and Ford). Friedman pointed out in his argument about the need for collaboration of government and private industry, that incentives would be the key to insure a healthy and mutually beneficial merge between the two. Massive technological revolutions (highways, stem engines) require a massive collaborative (public and private spheres) undertaking.
Essentially what I got out of this book, is America can do it. We have some of the greatest minds, and as history has proven to us when we work towards something cohesively we can accomplish great things. If we adopt these two major attitude changes Friedman proposes, combine cooperation and good old fashion American ingenuity we can not only reduce and eliminate our dependence on foreign oil, we can also corner the energy market and secure our place on the zenith of the 21st, 22nd century economies.
So what does this mean to the average 18 year old college student? It means we are living in an amazing, dynamic, and changing time. We are the generation to fix this problem. We are going to the new scientist, the new politicians, and more importantly the new voters. It is our job to stay informed, knowledgeable and critical. We must use our civic powers to make sure that our government is doing everything they can to get on to the green. The future is ours, take control of that responsibility and act accordingly. Indifference and ignorance is not an option.