My Spin: Mother Nature vs. Father profits

I love being in the presence of smart, articulate and visionary folks, even on a rainy, unseasonably cool midNovember evening. A large crowd gathered at Wait Chapel on the campus of Wake Forest University for theiracclaimed Face-to-Face lecture series. The featured speaker was noted author and NY Times foreign affairscolumnist Tom Friedman.

Friedman said little about the midterm elections, instead focusing mainly on foreign affairs. The interviewerstarted by asking Friedman if the world is still hot, flat and crowded, the title of one of Friedman's best-sellingbooks. He responded it was more so than ever, explaining we are operating in a technology planet, with morepeople competing on more platforms than ever. Two-thirds of this planet now has a smart phone and individualscan now act globally.

The war in Ukraine was fresh on everyone's minds. Friedman said that it was hard to get everything wrongwhen launching a war, but Russian President Vladimir Putin had done so with the war in Ukraine. Putin thoughthe was invading Ukraine, but in reality he was invading Europe and the reason so many are involved is becausethe outcome has global implications. Putin knows he underestimated his foe and also that he must end this warsoon. Our takeaway should be that the enemies of freedom are dangerous, and some people are willing to go allthe way to prevail.

The Iranian protest movement by women was discussed. Having been a foreign journalist, Friedman remindedthe audience that in 1979 Iran's revolution began as an uprising by rural communities, reminding the audiencethat countries don’t break up from the bottom up but from the top down. Today the Mullahs decide whathappens. His closing thought on the subject was that the opposite of democracy is not autocracy, but instead isdisorder.

In discussing the increasingly threatening world climate change problem, Friedman posited that we have goneabout this as a hobby. It requires more serious effort than that. We are in a race to see who can innovate enough,soon enough in order for humans to stay on this planet.

Eighty percent of the world's energy production still involves fossil fuels, Friedman reminded his audience. Tosurvive, we must transition from them, but it can’t happen overnight. As things now stand Father profit isprevailing by people making large sums selling energy that pollutes our air and destroys our climate. ButMother Nature isn't fooled, the author states. She is dealing in chemistry, biology and physics and if we are tocontinue to live here, we must also.

The two largest emitters of pollution are China and America. The two have been engaged in negotiationsseeking to reduce emissions, but Tom Friedman suggested that even if China agreed to reductions nobody cantrust them to live up to agreements.

Friedman proposes we should tell Xi Jinping that his country can get "as dirty as it wants," while Americadevelops complex adaptive coalitions that innovate and implement clean, green technologies. Then we can sellthem to China and the rest of the world when they can no longer breathe. Both Mother Nature and Father Profitwin.

Perhaps the most compelling part of the Face-to-Face evening involved mangroves - shrubs or trees that grow incoastal saline or brackish water. They act as filters to clean toxic air, prevent storm surges and create nutrientsfor young fish; Friedman says he has been studying them since 1999.

The human race is systematically cutting down the mangroves to build new homes, resorts and businesses. Hereminded the audience of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami that killed almost 225,000 people in a dozencountries. The death toll was so great Friedman said, because so many of these mangroves, these filters, weregone.

Today we are in a post-mangrove world, both figuratively and metaphorically. Local newspapers are mangroveswe have lost. When people search for information without these local outlets, they turn to Fox news, other cableoutlets and social networks that have caused great damage to our society.

Another example is the way we select candidates to run for political office. Time was the political bosses insmoked-filled rooms interviewed, discussed and filtered out candidates they knew were outside the realm ofelection by the electorate. Now these bosses were white men, and their ways were seldom inclusive and hadflaws and prejudices, but history demonstrates this system functioned pretty well. Metaphorically we cut downthose mangroves (bosses) and what we have now is a primary selection process that has few filters or barriers. Itis an out-of-control circus that seldom concludes by selecting the best candidates.

US elections are important. If we go dark, the whole world goes dark. The solutions to our problems, Friedmansaid, is forming complex adaptive coalitions to address and find solutions to them. Our job is to seek them outand employ them.

We applaud Tom Friedman and Wake Forest University for offering us an evening worth attending, and forgiving us many things to ponder.

Tom Campbell is a Hall of Fame North Carolina Broadcaster and columnist who has covered North Carolinapublic policy issues since 1965. He recently retired from writing, producing and moderating the statewide halfhour TV program NC SPIN that aired 22 ½ years. Contact him at tomcamp@carolinabroadcasting.com.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Tom Campbell column: Mother Nature vs. Father profits