What Kind of America?

I agree whole heartedly with Thomas Friedman on many issues and this is one of them. I am no tree hugger, but I think America really needs to focus on creating new energy resources - for a host of reasons. I believe in it so much so, that I plan to enter the energy industry after earning my MBA. I want to change the world; I will change the world. See below for an excerpt from Friedman's newest book ... ask yourself, "What kind of America would I like to see?"
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"Green is not simply a new form of generating electric power. It is a new form of generating national power - period." ~ David Rothkopf, Carnegie Endowment and energy expert.

What kind of America would you like to see? An America that is addicted to oil and thereby fueling the worst autocracies in the world, or a green America that is building scalable alternatives to crude oil and thereby freeing ourselves from the grip of countries who have drawn a bull's-eye on our back and whose values we oppose?

What kind of America would you like to see? An America that is steadily outsourcing more-and-more blue collar, labor intensive manufacturing jobs to China, or a green America that is building more and more knowledge-intensive green-technology jobs - for making green buildings, vehicles, and power sources - which are more difficult to outsource and will have to be the industry of the future, as fossil-fuel energy supplies dwindle and world population grows?

What kind of America would you like to see? An America with more and more urban sprawl devouring more and more open lands, or a green America where cities start to grow upward rather than outward, where mass transit becomes the norm rather than mass traffic jams, and where the only new buildings are green buildings?

What kind of America would you like to see? An America where the government relaxes energy and efficiency standards on cars, buildings, and appliances, prompting our industries to get innovation-lazy, or a green America where the U.S.government imposes steadily higher efficiency standards, forcing a constant flow of new thinking around materials, power systems, and energy software, making us the most energy-productive country in the world?

What kinf of America would you like to see? An America where there is no national big goal, or a green America, where inventing a source of abundant, clean, reliable, cheap electrons, which could enable the whole planet to grow in a way that doesn't destroy its remaining natural habitats, becomes the goal of this generation - inspiring young people to go into math, science, biology, physics, and nanotechnology?

What kind of America would you like to see? An America that is spotlighted as the last holdout at an international environmental conference, or a green America that is seen as the country most committed - by example - to preserving our environment and the species that inhabit it, earning the world's respect?

There is a Chinese proverb that says, "When the wind changes direction, there are those who build walls and those who build windmills." What will we do?

~ Thomas Friedman, "Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution and How It Can Renew America.