Why Thomas Friedman is also a hero

Because of this. Thomas Friedman, like myself and many others, but unfortunately unlike some of our politicians and lobbyists, understands the incredible importance of alternative energy.

I feel like I can't reiterate it enough, but America's economic health is currently hanging in the balance. Forget the current recession and the right's attempts to derail a recovery with faux austerity. The world is changing and America needs to recognize it. Just as there were revolutions in farming, industry and communications technology, there is an upcoming revolution in energy technology. It doesn't take a lot of foresight to recognize this. In fact, it takes very little foresight to recognize this, but for whatever reason, many people still don't, or won't. Either way, it's a problem.

Let me repeat myself, again, the world's population is growing...quickly. More and more people are going to be living at the same standard that we now enjoy now. A standard that is, quite frankly, unsustainable given our current use of resources. Take China, a country with a population of more than 1.3 billion people that is currently the world's third largest economy. There are more people living in poverty in China than there are living in the United States. What happens as China's economy grows and those people rise out of poverty? Do they continue living in mud huts and walking on mud roads? Probably not. As those people and others worldwide start to demand a higher standard of living, mother nature's resources will disappear...if we haven't destroyed the planet before we use them up, but that's another issue.

When resources disappear, or the earth gets too dirty, whichever happens first, humanity will make the inevitable jump to renewable and clean energy. That jump has already begun, but for the most part, it is happening elsewhere, meaning that while America continues to funnel money to people who fly airplanes into our buildings and compare our president to the devil in the UN General Assembly, China and other countries are leaping ahead in the race to develop the next generation of clean energy technology.

Please America, let the oil spill in the gulf be this generation's Sputnik. Let this disaster - and our common sense - compel us to begin remaking our economy and our way of life so that we can preserve our great nation.

When the time comes for me to raise a family, I don't want to have to take them overseas to work in another country that beat us to the punch on the technology of the future. I don't want my kids living on a dirty planet. We need to make the change now. Don't do it for me. Do it for America.