1. How do 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the “flattening of the world” (Friedman’s way of referring to globalization) bring about a recognition of the need for “green” solutions?
2. Infer – why wouldn’t China and India be motivated to develop clean power?
3. What’s government’s role? How does Friedman envision government and business cooperating to bring about an energy solution?
4. How are these environmental issues related to freedom and democracy in the Middle East?
You may have to do your own research to answer the questions effectively. You can use old articles of Friedman’s – they’re here for free. Bring your answers to class and we’ll discuss them and perhaps watch the full documentary. The writing here is worth your grade.
Then read this blog post – there are also two short clips to watch – and respond critically: are the Fox News people right in the first clip, or in the second (or both or neither)? Can politicians affect the price of gas, or can’t they? Again bring your response to class. You should be prepared to discuss; your grade will be discussion in class.
For a scoatch of extra credit (enough to turn a tardy day into an on-time day) – analyze the bias of both Tom Friedman and Fox News as presented in the blog post. What are each of their motivations? What are each of them trying to accomplish by saying what they’re saying in their respective manners? Post your answers as a reply here on the page.
I think altogether, Fox and Friedman are trying to say how to make are world more efficient by fixing the environmental issues and somehow try to lower gas prices. Fox’s motivations were that politicians should try to do something about gas prices. And Friedman’s were more about making the earth cleaner and how they government should do something.
ReplyDeleteBoth Fredmand and Fox want a better economy for everyone however Fox is talking about political reasons and how no president can lower gas prices and even though Fredmand also things the government should be involve he cares more about green technology and in “fueling our dreams” in a green way.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Friedman and Fox have good intentions. They both have diffrent ways of trying to improve the environmental issue, Fox is using the political aspect, and Fox is using the more "green" way.
ReplyDeleteI think that both Fox and Friedman are kind of talking about doing things in a similar way. The difference is that Friedman seems to think that it's up to the government to do something about it, while Fox thinks it's more up to the people.
ReplyDeleteFriedman is suggesting that the United States need to bring the price of oil up so we stimulate the alternatives and the innovation that ultimately will actually bring the global price of energy and oil down. The price of oil as it goes down, the pace of freedom it goes up. He also talks about government setting high standards and getting our prices rights. He also suggests that we get charged for our carbon dioxide that we release.
ReplyDeleteWhat Fox is trying to say is, we need to bring the price of oil down because it is way too high right now compared to when Bush was still in office. And their all questioning why isn’t anybody doing anything about it. Only thing is, Obama isn’t the one who controls the gas prices. In the second clip, they say the three main causes for gas price rising is tensions in the Middle East, big east coast refinery shutting down, and the increase demand for gas in China and India. Those are things that we can’t control and are just way out of ours and government’s hands.