The US Should Be Denmark: Tom Friedman on Greening the Economy
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 11.12.08
photo: World Resources Institute
By this point we’ve all heard it dozens of times: Green jobs will revitalize the economy. And though by most accounts the stats bear out that near-maxim, nonetheless transforming our current brown economy to one a nice healthy shade of green is easier said than done. In a brief interview with The Huffington Post, Tom Friedman outlined the sort of effort required to make this sort of transformation.
The most interesting example he gave, as a model to prove that it can be done, is from Denmark:
That Should Be Us, That Should Be Us
...in 1973 Denmark was the other country that got hit with the Arab oil embargo. They got hit so hard they stopped sunday driving. You couldn't drive in Denmark on sunday.They said, "We're never going to be in that situation again." They instituted a gasoline tax. Gas costs $10 a gallon in Denmark today. And they instituted a CO2 tax. You go to your electric bill in Denmark and you actually see "CO2 tax."
They bit the bullet, they designed a program that would both diminish on a steady basis their energy use per unit of GDP and they stimulated a huge green energy industry. There are only 5 million people in Denmark, yet they produce one out of every three wind turbines and they have the top two cellulosic enzyme companies in the world. That should be us. That should be us.
Denmark Transformation a Political Commitment
Reading that reminded me of what Danish politician Helle Thorning-Schmidt said at the Clinton Global Initiative regarding her county’s energy transformation.
Paraphrasing: Such a transformation is more about political commitment than anything else, that it is one which requires a long-term vision, it is one which cannot be done my markets alone—you have to have the right incentive structures in place—and, it is one that can happen regardless of the size of the country.
We Need To Make a Similar Commitment
As a nation, you have to say—to bridge this back to Friedman a bit—this is who we are, this is what we want to be and this is what we are going to do: We are going to make the political commitment, the cultural and political choice, to only use environmental friendly sources of energy, manufacturing methods and civic development models. We are going to put this above maximizing short-term gain, because in the long-term it is better for all concerned.
via: Huffington Post
Denmark
Clinton Global Initiative Highlights: Old World is Oil, New World is Renewables
On Danish Isle of Samsø Wind Power is the Heart of Carbon Neutral Energy Independence
Danish Climate Goal 2009: World’s Biggest Fleet of Electric Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars
With a suitable cap and trade system – entrepreneurs like myself can get to work.
We need the carbon leverage™ to bring large polluters to the negotiation table. When the economics don’t pencil out, why invest in alternative energy projects? We need carbon leverage™.
We have leased 20,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space in New York State with equipment on site waiting for investment capital to launch two pilot projects to reduce carbon in coal firing operations. You’d think we have the money – nada.
Before – we give away billion of dollars to Vin Jones for training, let’s create the markets for those workers to find jobs.
The renewable energy industry is being stolen from entrepreneurs by the same big corporation that have been highjacking our other energy assets.
We spend weeks in Pennsylvania talking with land owners about T. Boone Pickens Plan and his crew of Land Man. How come - one land owners gets $50.00 per acre for a 10 year lease and his neighbor $2,500. T Boone and his pals have sent well-dressed thugs in to the Penn Hills to secure land. The landowners have been taken for a ride.
How did we let T. Boone Pickens and his Plan, control the debate and become everybody’s rich Uncle or Granddaddy at the same time.
It’s truly unbelievable to attend the largest biofuels seminars in New York State for the past 4 years and see speakers from the largest universities and corporation all have complete opposite opinions, all working in different directions, with the exception of – Dr. Ray Cross at Morrisville College, entrepreneur and visionary and Cornell’s Larry Walker. New York State needs Change!
Add a name to Obama’s team on biofuels research, Larry Walker at Cornell University.
Tax the polluters – give the incentives to the Entrepreneurs, create jobs rebuild American.
Watch these ideas at work, get organized locally - http://www.otoyk.com
Denmark does not have an auto industry. The best thing the US could do for their economy and the environment is let the industry die a quick death. No sense in prolonging the agony, it will just make it worse. The sooner it dies, the sooner new industries will spring up in its place.
We need to considerably downscale the automotive industry in this country; we produce too many cars that people just don't want or need to buy (the Japanese already make so many already). Also, the industry needs to begin abandoning the ICE (internal combustion engine) on a large scale and force the market to go hybrid or even full-electric.
Not to get too political, but if you have listened to Obama's press conferences there is an undercurrent of "Yes i want to help the auto industry but only if they are going to change modernize, and produce the eletric/hybrid cars of the future.
I don't see why the US couldn't seriously get back into the electric car game. Personally i would LOVE the opportunity to buy an electric car that was amercian made for my next car. Because of what I do and personal choice I will continue to have a communte. (I'm a child therapist, and frankly it wouldn't be fair to my kids if I knew most of their friends mental health and substance abuse issues, so I choose to live a few towns away from where I work, and I choose not to live in cities.)
I think the new president is goign to at least start us on the course of having copmmitments to a green economy, and it is up to the rest of the country to work to support this.
Calling for the dying off of industries when people are losing jobs left and right is not a way to get people behind it, but calling for innovation, and competition from stable prosepcts makes sense. On with the green economy revolution, but lets not do it in a way that demoralizes the working class, because then they will be anti- green for a very long time.
It is so confusing that Friedman makes good sense about the environment, but he is so clueless about globalization and Iraq.