Environmental technology is the rapidly emerging and innovative field of creating sustainable energy technology. Thomas Friedman contends that ET is the solution to the major problems the world faces this century. He argues that, so far, we have gone the easier, softer route: "Well, I changed my light bulbs to compact fluorescent lamps, so I’ve done my part to save the world." Instead, Friedman believes, "We don’t need to change our light bulbs; we need to change our leaders."
As I mulled this over the next day and discussed it with a friend, Friedman’s statement seemed only half true. I completely agree that a change in leadership has the power to catapult our country back into being the innovative economic engine it was only a short while ago. That is why the majority of the American people elected President-elect Barack Obama on the basis that he could be the change the American people want to see. The part I disagree with is that we only have to change our leaders. The American people need to change their light bulbs, but I also believe it can’t stop there. We have to take ownership of the leadership role we as citizens have in shifting the global politics of energy policy.
On the night of Nov. 17, as I sat in a lecture given by Friedman on campus at the Cullen Performance Hall, I clung to a story he recounted from his latest book Hot, Flat, and Crowded.
A young child was given the task of putting together a picture of the world that his grandfather had torn into pieces out of the local newspaper to keep the child busy. The grandfather told the child to put the image of the world back together, thinking it would take him a long time. However, he finished the task incredibly quick and brought it back to his grandfather. When asked how he had done it, the child said that on the back of the picture of the world was an image of a person, so he just reconstructed the person and the world came together.
The story has such far-reaching implications for the world we live in today. In a world ravaged by food shortages, energy issues and resource poverty, by war and by economic insecurity, it is easy to lose sight of the big picture. We buy into the lie that we are too small to make a difference in the world, so why bother?
I don’t mean to deny the harsh realities of the world we live in, but rather to acknowledge that there is great power when individuals unite with a common focus. The truth is that we have the power to heal each other through small, courageous acts of peace, and in healing one another, we bring the world together. The way we use the privilege of energy can be an act of peace to ourselves, to our country, to people all around the world and to the planet itself.
I know that sounds very "kumbaya" to some people, but I would rather land on the side of the idealistic optimist than the calloused cynic. Both are rarely disappointed, the cynic because they never had any expectations for something better and the optimist because they know that tomorrow is another day to try again. As we move into this new administration I can only hope, as the undying optimist I am, that Obama will employ the change strategy the American people elected him to carry out. That he will not look to make an incremental change in the current energy policy, but he will take a decisive stance in creating a whole new energy policy.
We need a leader bold enough to implement a policy that no longer panders to the car makers and the oil companies but demands change both of corporate citizens and American citizens. As we have seen with the current economic crisis, our impact is far-reaching – probably more so than we could have ever imagined. That means we have the ability to impact the world in a positive way by being the leaders and innovators America and the rest of the world needs right now.
Hilliker, a social work graduate student, can be reached via [email protected]
