The race for "green jobs"

Much like the Maniates article from last week, I'm sort of torn about Friedman's piece. On the one hand, I think a Space Race-style rush for green jobs could be exactly what the US needs to jump-start its environmental action and get the government to take green initiatives seriously. On the other hand, though, Friedman is obviously of the cornicupian school of thought, and if we've learned anything from this class so far it's that there's a danger in assuming technology is our magic bullet that can save us all from global warming.

We talked a bit last week about the importance of changing peoples' attitudes towards environmentalism and eco practices, and I still think it's the single biggest obstacle facing the environmental movement today. To that end, a race with China could be great for the US, because it could finally get blue-collar workers on board with environmentally-friendly initiatives. If we frame the problem in terms of jobs, maybe people will be more accepting and open to new programs. Americans love competition (and I think most of them, though they probably won't admit, are either angry about or jealous of China's ability to produce so much so quickly), so this green jobs race could be the perfect paradigm shift that gives the environmental movement the momentum it's been lacking in certain parts of the country.

That doesn't solve the problem, though (in fact, it feeds into it), that I'm coming to believe more and more: Technology really isn't going to be able to save us, not completely. We really are going to have to make some sacrifices. While it could be that debates like this were beyond the scope of Friedman's article, I think it's pieces like his that are sort of perpetuating that myth that we can have our cake and eat it too. Bill McKibben certainly isn't fun to read, but I think maybe we need more writers and columnists like that to get us into the sort of mindset I think we have to get into. If someone as respected as Friedman starts talking about the sacrifices we need to make for the good of the planet, maybe people will listen. At the same time, though, McKibben brings up a great point about how Friedman's first two books didn't deal at all with global warming, and suddenly it was like the reality of climate change struck him over the head, and now he's all about being green. We can only hope such a drastic change happens to the rest of Americans, too.