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The Copenhagen That Matters

As I listened to Denmark’s minister of economic and business affairs describe how her country used higher energy taxes to stimulate innovation in green power and then recycled the tax revenues back to Danish industry and consumers to make it easier for them to make and buy the new clean technologies, it all sounded so, well, intelligent. It sounded as if the Danes looked at themselves after the 1973 Arab oil embargo, found that they were totally dependent on Middle East oil and put in place a long-term strategy to make Denmark energy-secure and start a new industry at the same time.

The more I listened to the Danish minister, Lene Espersen, the more I thought of my own country, where I’ve been told time and again by U.S. politicians that proposing even a 10-cent-a-gallon increase in gasoline taxes to make America more energy independent and to stimulate fuel efficiency is “off the table,” an act of sure political suicide.

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Off to the Races

I’ve long believed there are two basic strategies for dealing with climate change — the “Earth Day” strategy and the “Earth Race” strategy. This Copenhagen climate summit was based on the Earth Day strategy. It was not very impressive. This conference produced a series of limited, conditional, messy compromises, which it is not at all clear will get us any closer to mitigating climate change at the speed and scale we need.

Indeed, anyone who watched the chaotic way this conference was “organized,” and the bickering by delegates with which it finished, has to ask whether this 17-year U.N. process to build a global framework to roll back global warming is broken: too many countries — 193 — and too many moving parts. I leave here feeling more strongly than ever that America needs to focus on its own Earth Race strategy instead. Let me explain.

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www.jihad.com

Let’s not fool ourselves. Whatever threat the real Afghanistan poses to U.S. national security, the “Virtual Afghanistan” now poses just as big a threat. The Virtual Afghanistan is the network of hundreds of jihadist Web sites that inspire, train, educate and recruit young Muslims to engage in jihad against America and the West. Whatever surge we do in the real Afghanistan has no chance of being a self-sustaining success, unless there is a parallel surge — by Arab and Muslim political and religious leaders — against those who promote violent jihadism on the ground in Muslim lands and online in the Virtual Afghanistan.

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From Chapter 18:

The Great Disruption

This column got a lot of feedback from New York Times readers. I am thinking of calling Chapter 18 "The Great Disruption." I am coming to the conclusion that the market and Mother Nature both hit the wall here in 2008/2009. We need growth, we need ways to raise people's standards of living, but what will be the new ways we should focus on—post-The Great Disruption—that will allow us to grow people's living standards in a more sustainable and regenerative way?

Recent Ideas from Chapter 18:

Anonymous wrote, "wanna make luv ;]..." in The Great Disruption Tuesday, 12:58 am
bay tramadol wrote, "6 bay tramadol or is phentermine the same as adipex or dr b adipex or..." in A Final Question Sunday, 07:59 am
John Wade wrote, "What is the relationship between the spike in oil prices to $147/bbl. that happened shortly before the melt down and..." in The Great Disruption Wednesday, 05:17 pm
Jamie wrote, "Steadily increasing populations coupled with advancements in technology present problems for waste management. One..." in The Great Disruption Tuesday, 01:14 am
Mark Lichtenstein wrote, "I have an idea that might be a good bridge to the high tech super clean energy economy of the future. First of all I..." in A Final Question Sunday, 12:10 pm
Download an exclusive MP3 audio preview of Hot, Flat, and Crowded:

Thomas L. Friedman on Global Warming and the Environment


New York Times Articles

Thomas Friedman is the "Foreign Affairs" columnist for The New York Times. Below are links to articles and other content on their site (registration required).


Other items of interest:

Hot, Flat, and Crowded 2.0
With the #1 bestseller The World Is Flat, he helped millions of readers see and understand globalization in a new way. Now Thomas L. Friedman explains how America can lead the green revolution in the 21st century.

Link to Presentation
Video and Powerpoint Presentation of Thomas Friedman's Talk in Washington, D.C. created by Panopto.

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