Thomas Friedman's March 27th article about the energy crisis in the US "Geo-Greening by Example" appears at the top of the New York Times's "Most E-Mailed" list. Friedman describes the opportunities our country is missing and the risk we are assuming by not putting together a "geo-green" strategy to help the US lower oil consumption. He ends the article with a powerful statement, "The country is dying to be led on this". And, what are we dying to be led on? Well it ain't Social Security reform.

Friedman's article is a must-read for environmentalist. For me, one statement was particularly disturbing. Friedman to this quote from Wired magazine's April issue about Hybrid cars:

Right now, there are about 800 million cars in active use. By 2050, as cars become ubiquitous in China and India, it'll be 3.25 billion. That increase represents ... an almost unimaginable threat to our environment. Quadruple the cars means quadruple the carbon dioxide emissions - unless cleaner, less gas-hungry vehicles become the norm."

Quadruple the cars?? And we think we have it bad now. So the big question is, just who is going to lead on this issue?