Don't you love Terry Gross, Thomas Friedman, NPR ... and WVPE

This is an unsolicited (I promise) email from WVPE listener Melissa Kinsey:

I hope you had the chance to hear Terry Gross on Fresh Air today ... she interviewed Thomas Friedman about his new book, "Hot, Flat, and Crowded". Can't wait to read it. Friedman wrote "The World is Flat" - which has become a staple when teaching college business courses. His down to earth writing style can even make economics & statistics interesting. (!) This time he has taken on the need for an American Green Revolution.

The interview addresses MANY of the challenging topics our SBRT organizational team talk about all the time - such as:
- working around the preconceived notion that global warming is warm & fuzzy & nothing to be concerned about
- the lack of credibility given to "green" issues ... "tree hugging / birky wearing / etc ...
- the challenges of working with legislators & how to we begin to make a difference
- examples of current legislation to be aware of - tax incentives both for & against green energy development

It's a great interview. As usual - Terry asks all the right questions.

If you didn't hear it today - they will probably post the transcript by tomorrow.

Melissa.

The audio from the story is here.

Here's a sample of what Friedman writes ...

The core argument is very simple: America has a problem and the world has a problem. America's problem is that it has lost its way in recent yearspartly because of 9/11 and partly because of the bad habits that we have let build up over the last three decades, bad habits that have weakened our society's ability and willingness to take on big challenges. The world also has a problem: It is getting hot, flat, and crowded. That is, global warming, the stunning rise of middle classes all over the world, and rapid population growth have converged in a way that could make our planet dangerously unstable. In particular, the convergence of hot, flat, and crowded is tightening energy supplies, intensifying the extinction of plants and animals, deepening energy poverty, strengthening petrodictatorship, and accelerating climate change. How we address these interwoven global trends will determine a lot about the quality of life on earth in the twenty-first century.

I am convinced that the best way for America to solve its big problem the best way for America to get its "groove" back is for us to take the lead in solving the world's big problem. In a world that is getting hot, flat, and crowded, the task of creating the tools, systems, energy sources, and ethics that will allow the planet to grow in cleaner, more sustainable ways is going to be the biggest challenge of our lifetime. But this challenge is actually an opportunity for America. If we take it on, it will revive America at home, reconnect America abroad, and retool America for tomorrow. America is always at its most powerful and most influential when it is combining innovation and inspiration, wealth-building and dignity-building, the quest for big profits and the tackling of big problems. When we do just one, we are less than the sum of our parts.