It’s Getting Hot In Here

5 Responses to “Thomas Friedman: Clean Energy Hero”

1. 1 Matt Leonard Apr 25th, 2008 at 12:18 am

   Wow Teryn, that’s an incredibly generous view of Friedman, and an reflects a very shallow understanding of the root causes of the climate crisis. I’m hoping you are just being reactionary and coming to Friedman’s defense over your concern over the tactics used by the Greenwash Guerrillas - because if you really think Thomas Friedman is a hero, then you have even further marginalized yourself and the Breakthrough Institute. I hope that Breakthrough doesn’t actually support free-market, uber-capitalist, militaristic and imperialistic “solutions” to the climate crisis - but who knows anymore.

   Friedman champions clean energy as a way to maintain US dominance of the world - economically, politically, culturally, and militarily. We stand no chance of beating the climate crisis unless we address the fundamental systems of domination that created it in the first place. Clean energy without global justice is eco-fascism.

   You may think that environmentalism is “dead,” but if your idea of reviving it involves exporting US “democracy” across the globe, bombing civilians, supporting wars for oil, pushing free-market neo-liberalism, dismantling basic protections for environmental, human, and worker’s rights, and “liberating” countries by installing puppet occupying governments - I’ll pass.

   -Matt

2. 2 Teryn Norris Apr 25th, 2008 at 1:15 am

   Matt, can you elaborate? I’m not sure I fully understand your position.

   1. In your view, what are the “root causes” of the climate crisis?
   2. Can you provide compelling evidence for your (incredibly) strong accusation that “Friedman champions clean energy as a way to maintain U.S. dominance”?
   3. What are the “fundamental systems of domination” that created the climate crisis?
   4. How do you define “global justice”?

   I’m genuinely interested. Thanks,

   Teryn

3. 3 Matt Leonard Apr 25th, 2008 at 2:35 am

   Here you go Teryn. http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2008/04/25/thomas-friedman-neo-liberal-war-mongerer/

   -Matt

4. 4 Teryn Norris Apr 25th, 2008 at 4:02 am

   Here was my response:

   Matt, nobody on this blog is trying to defend all of Friedman’s views, current or previous. If you’d like to debate his contribution to the clean energy and climate movement, then let’s have that discussion.

   In response to your previous comment, I asked you to elaborate on four points:

   1. In your view, what are the “root causes” of the climate crisis?
   2. Can you provide compelling evidence for your (incredibly) strong accusation that “Friedman champions clean energy as a way to maintain U.S. dominance”?
   3. What are the “fundamental systems of domination” that created the climate crisis?
   4. How do you define “global justice”?

   Here’s what I’ve gathered from your post. Correct me if I’m wrong:

   1. You believe that “war, racism, imperialism, economic inequality, and many other forms of domination are the root causes of the ecological crisis.”

   That’s strange. For some reason I thought global warming was driven largely by our dirty energy sources and deforestation, but apparently the root cause is “war, racism, imperialism, inequality, and other forms of domination” by the American empire.

   2. You’ve given us a bunch of random quotations from Friedman on the Iraq war. But I still don’t understand how Friedman (or anyone) could possibly see championing clean energy as a way to “maintain global dominance.” Certainly we can revitalize the American and global economy with clean energy investments (Friedman has written extensively about how clean energy can help the Chinese and Indian economies), so perhaps you wouldn’t mind explaining why you believe the reason for Friedman’s views on clean energy is to promote American domination.

   3. You’ve stated that “war, racism, imperialism, economic inequality, and many other forms of domination are the root causes of the ecological crisis,” but without any explanation.

   4. You’ve given no answer. What bothers me most about this, Matt, is your apparent presumption that the developing world — let’s focus on China, since it’s the largest country in the world and now the largest contributor to global emissions — is just being manipulated by the United States to take its current path of development. Do you honestly believe that China is industrializing because of U.S. domination, or that China should be condemned to energy poverty?

   Thanks for your clarification.

1. 1 Thomas Friedman: Neo-liberal war monger. « It’s Getting Hot In Here Trackback on Apr 25th, 2008 at 10:49 am

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