Earth Equity News

'Hot, Flat and Crowded'. By Stephen Kotkin, NYTimes, September 6, 2008. "In his role as a cheerleader for globalization, [New York Times columnist] Thomas L. Friedman has always been aware that there are environmental consequences. But now, with 'Hot, Flat and Crowded' (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $27.95), he embraces going green not just as a national security imperative but also as an economic El Dorado. Lacerating the ubiquitous, feel-good, magaziney '205 easy ways to save the earth,' Mr. Friedman... wants a green revolution as part of nothing less than 'nation building' in America. He also says that renewable energy driven by technology plays to American strengths: great laboratories and entrepreneurs, a start-up culture of risk and reward. If the U.S. gets serious, it will dominate, creating not just jobs but also whole new industries... He argues [that] Washington should shift current incentives by making the cost of hydrocarbons higher, with new taxes (and a price floor), and by making the cost of alternative fuels lower, with tax breaks, until clean industries achieve scale and can compete without subsidies. To Americans who abhor talk of higher taxes, Mr. Friedman asks, would you rather shell out to the Saudi, Russian and Venezuelan treasuries, as you now do, or to the U.S. Treasury?"