Thomas Friedman: Hot, Flat and Crowded Excerpt

I did a post in November introducing Thomas Friedman's latest masterpiece book "The World is Hot, Flat and Crowded". This past weekend, as I was flying back from Vancouver, I was reading this amazing chapter on China and the steps it needs to take to implement sustainable energy and economic policies. Don't be fooled, China is making significant progress on the clean energy front. Just look at the owner of Suntech Solar in China. The owner is one of the richest men in China with a net-worth of 2.2 billion dollars. Yes, a green entrepreneur in China! He says that he wants to do for solar energy what China did for tennis shoes: drive down the cost, so that millions of people who cannot afford solar photovoltaic panels will be able to do so. It's a genious strategy, "offering first world technology and developing world prices". They've been so effective that they've joined the likes of Sharp, Kyocera and BP as the top 4 solar photovoltaic cell producers in the world. Here's an excerpt from the book that describes China's road map to a clean energy economy.

"China is purposely trying to become something different tomorrow from what it is today, and we have to do all we can to ensure that the "New China" has a green face. Because that is not a sure thing, America has a decisive role to play. It can help tip China in the right direction, but only if we go first. Leadership is not about "after you". It's about "follow me". We are the ones who put into the atmosphere the lion's share of the CO2 that is slowly warming the world. We are the ones with the resources that should enable us to take the lead in inventing a clean power system. The greatest thing that America could do today for itself, China, and the world is become an example of a country that grows prosperous, secure, innovative, and respected by becoming the greenest, most energy-efficient, and most energy productive country there is.
I would even take it a step further and say that the greatest thing that the United States could do today for itself, for China, and the world is to publicly state its intention to "outgreen China" - to let the Chinese know every day in every way that we are going to try to clean their clock in the next great global industry: clean power. Just as we and the Soviets had a space race, a competition to see who would put a man on the moon first - a competition that greatly strengthened our own society, from education to infrastructure - we, the European Union, and the Chinese need to have a similar race today. Only instead of a race to put a man on the moon, it has to be a race to preserve humankind on earth. In the Cold War there was a winner and a loser, but in the earth race either we will all win or we will all lose, because if China's speeding bus was to explode - economically or environmentally - it would be a disaster for everyone."