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Thanks to Scott over at Thought Mechanics for pointing out this interview with Thomas Friedman at Grist Magazine.

I don’t plan on becoming some kind of “link blogger” here putting up link after link to other people’s stuff. But Friedman’s ideas are interesting.

I liken his “geo-green” solutions to the national energy problems and US foreign policy to the call-to-arms made to the american people during the World Wars. He advocates a solution where the government asks people to buckle down and put in some hard work for the good of the country. He wants to use political power and national resources to jump-start the move away from oil and all the degrading compromises we have to make to get it. It’s patriotism used for good. It’s a saving your sugar, recycling your steel, and putting the women to work in the factories so the country can keep running while the men are fighting for our freedom kind of thinking.

More interestingly, his pro-environment, less-oil pitch isn’t aimed at the standard array of liberal environmentalists. It’s aimed at the conservatives, the business people, and the folks that want to see us keep our position as a political leader around the world. He believes his ideas can bring liberals and conservatives together and accomplish the goals of both.

In a political climate that seems increasingly divided, that pushes agendas by any means necessary, that breeds anger and resentment between our own people, I find it refreshing to hear a voice saying let’s change everything, let’s get people involved, and let’s bring everyone together to work on a solution that will benefit everyone.

At his inauguration, Bush said he wanted to unite the people of this country. I hope that he remembers those words as he serves out the remainder of his four years of service to this country. We need an agenda that’s not about right vs. left. We need a national cause that’s not about fear and destruction. We need to fight, not for control of the oil, but for freedom from it.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 7th, 2005 at 10:59 am and is filed under Environmentalism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.