Thomas Friedman '75, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times columnist, stressed the importance of taking a leading role in the green revolution during his address to the Brandeis community last Thursday speaking about his new book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution-and How it can Renew America.Friedman showed the audience a picture of a billboard he had seen in South Africa for a car, which presented the slogan "German Engineering, Swiss Innovation, American Nothing." He went on to explain that we've "lost our groove" as Americans because since Sept. 11, the U.S. has been "exporting fear and not hope." He also said that the U.S. has lost its competitor with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the political elite have adopted a "dumb as we wanna be" mood, which Friedman explains in his new book.

He writes that this mood "says we can indulge in petty red state-blue state catfights for as long as we want and can postpone shoring up our health care system and our crumbling infrastructure, postpone addressing immigration reform, postpone fixing Social Security and Medicare and dealing comprehensively without energy excesses and insecurity indefinitely." Friedman implies that this mood represents the differences between political parties in government, which have prevented the government from being productive. Friedman explained

Friedman said that since Sept. 11 Americans have been caught up in being the"United States of Fighting Terrorism." He said the country needs to move on and start addressing pressing environmental issues we face.

Friedman focused on the need to start a green revolution in the world because merging global warming, globalization and the rapidly increasing population will have serious repercussions in the near future. These repercussions include a decrease in energy supplies, an increase in the extinction of plants and animals and the acceleration of climate change. According to Friedman, energy technology is the next global industry, and Friedman wants the U.S. to be the leader in the pursuit of energy technology because the leader in energy technology will be the source of national power in the world. He said, green should be "the new red, white and blue" for the U.S.

Friedman said, "Change your leaders, not your light bulbs," when explaining that the environmental approaches taken now are not a green revolution, but simply a "green party," where people and companies are making changes that are not resulting in a large enough impact on the problem of global warming. He wants to see a change in the approach government leaders are taking to tackle the environmental crisis with policy, tax incentives and disincentives and regulations.

The only real way to find our way out of the global crisis is through building an "ecosystem for energy innovation," explained Friedman. When consumers were made to pay for the full cost of their CO2 emissions and pollution, they will begin to purchase the cheaper and greener alternatives, he said.

Friedman presented what he considers to be the five main global problems. He referred to these five problems as energy and natural resources supply and demand, the increased demand of our natural resources by both Western industrialized countries and big emerging countries that lead to an increase in supply; petrodictatorship, which is the massive transfer of wealth from energy consuming-countries to energy-producing countries; climate change, the fact that the earth's average temperature has risen and affected the climate; energy poverty, which is the slowdown of the access to energy; and biodiversity loss, which is causing many species across the world to go extinct. Friedman advocated a solution in the form of environmentally friendly energy sources like solar power.

Friedman states that the world has two options: "to change or die," in order to keep up with globalization. However, now it has to change in order to save the world from our damaging actions. He said that we will know that the green revolution is here when companies have no choice to build anything other than 'green.' In order to achieve these goals, "the market needs to be reshaped with standards to reduce carbon emissions and regulations for research funding and tax incentive," he said.

Friedman reinforced the importance of the impact we as students can have by taking up environmental projects, setting an example by challenging our competition, like Tufts University, which would force them to keep up with our standards and educating ourselves on the environmental and political issues relevant today.

Sustainability Coordinator Janna Cohen-Rosenthal '03 said, "I think it was a great opportunity to have Thomas Friedman on campus; he is a creative thinker and has a wonderful way of presenting a very complex and multifaceted issue. 'Green' isn't just about protecting the environment-it's about staying competitive, providing jobs and protecting our future. He is correct when he says that this environmental crisis is on current students' 'visa' cards. Students' generation will have to deal with the effects of a changing climate, so they have to be very involved and passionate about reducing impacts."

Friedman stressed the importance of the upcoming presidential election by pointing out that he sees this election as the most important election of all time for mankind. He emphasized the importance of making an informed voting decision for the next president based on historical voting records and stances on environmental initiatives.

Friedman writes in his new book, "The challenge we need to lay down across America [is] taking responsibility for creating the impossible."

Sarah Gelman '09 said, "To have a Brandeis alum as a top leader in energy and climate change is such a testament to the strength of Brandeis as an academic institution."

Dan Reuven '09 said, "His remarks during his address centered around the future of the United States through the work of our generation.