Where's the Price Signal?
It is now more clear than ever that Barack Obama is not going to be able to impose a gasoline tax, set a carbon tax, or establish a cap-and-trade plan for carbon emissions in his first year in the White House. How can we have a green revolution without a price signal—a sign to investors that the market for clean energy solutions is huge and a sure thing? I am interested in any ideas you have—and I am sure Obama will be too!
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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.
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Ideas:
We must set the conditions so the White House and the Congress will provide these price signals. President Elect Obama recently identified our addition to foreign oil as “Shock to Trance.” We must never let him forget his words. We need to look at the various ways "green" and other successful campaigns have been marketed on the internet, and improve upon them so the government will act.
The Pickens Plan is one example. Mr. Pickens has the attention of the media and has had a modicum of success in capturing the imagination of our citizens. He is focused on a program, communicates directly with his growing “Army” and facilitates their communication to Congress.
However, his plan is too narrow in scope. While it is certainly a piece of the Smart Grid, it does not shed light on this most important core infrastructure that we should be building. Additionally, as you point out so well, somebody gets hurt in an actual revolution. Who gets hurt in the Pickens Plan? Nobody.
We all need a bit of sacrifice for the good of our country to enable it to lead the World in the ET revolution. That sacrifice will bring revolutionary returns in industry, global stature, and wealth. It will free our foreign policy to act for the good of mankind instead of our interests in uninhibited access to Middle East resources. It will free us from transferring our wealth to autocratic governments. Its byproduct will have a positive impact on Global Warming.
Our people need to understand the true threat existing while we’re in our periods of “trance.” They need to understand what that sacrifice is, why we’re making it, and what the result will be.
I’m sorry, but at the moment, you are the de facto messenger.
An internet media campaign, like the Pickens Plan, like the President Elect’s campaign plan, is the surest way to martial support.
It must educate.
It must provide all the needed resources for the “ET” Army that must be formed.
It must target all elected officials - local, state, and federal.
It must be relentless.
We will help you.
December 4th 2008, 12:01 am
If the government is not able to do anything to encourage investors about the market for clean energy solutions, then we must start a grass roots movement to convince investors. Just as Obama's campaign was able to mobilize millions to his cause, we must use similar tools to motivate young and old about the benefits to all of us, especially in the ways you note in your book. I have bought copies of your book for each of my children and hope that each one becomes involved in finding solutions and supporting existing ones. Global citizens must all take responsibility, make sacrifices, and look towards the "green" future of the earth.
December 3rd 2008, 10:21 pm
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