In the NY Times article Friedman’s article argues that the US is falling behind in a competition against China to create positive climate change. I think the idea is framing this issue within a competition construct is really beneficial to promote change. The whole idea could possible change the attitudes of the American public towards living a more sustainable life. As Emily discussed changing people’s attitudes is very important and this seems one way it can actually be achieved. Once people realize the thousands of jobs and opportunities being created in China through “green jobs” and clean energy technologies, I believe that we may actually push towards the same.
While I do not believe in the cornucopian idea that technology will save all, it will save a lot. The technology we have created in the past greatly polluted the environment, but that was really only because we didn’t know any better. No one had planned on really wrecking the environment this much. In creating new technologies (not the planned obsolescence products) we can build them to be more environmentally friendly.
I am glad Quinn pointed out that international summits have really led to more restrictions on developing countries while not including developed ones. I think it brings up a great point. Would this competition with China even exist if it was not told it had to do take this action? They have definitely achieved a lot either way, hopefully we can keep up.
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