And the solutions are, apparently, self-evident. “What is our problem?” he wonders. “If the right things to do are so obvious to the people who know the most about the energy business, why can’t we put them in place?” Maybe it’s because the answers aren’t easy, and because every action would have an unexpected reaction.

Consider compact fluorescent light bulbs. Friedman touts them as a nifty way to reduce the use of electricity. And they may be. But they also contain mercury. What if, decades hence, all those CFLs piling up in landfills pollute our groundwater with a deadly heavy metal?

This may not happen. But it’s safe to assume that, if any government enacted sweeping changes in “one day,” it would end up triggering unforeseen problems months and years down the road.

We need clean energy, and only a competitive market will deliver it. “We need companies that view climate change not as a threat but as an opportunity,” David Douglass, vice president for eco-responsibility at Sun Microsystems, explained to Friedman. Companies should “think about how to create a whole new level of efficiency that can get an edge on the competition.”

The Chinese could be a big help here, by the way, if their government would finally enforce intellectual property rights.

American tourists brag they can buy pirated DVDs in China for pennies, but the joke’s really on Chinese entrepreneurs. As long as China’s autocratic leaders ignore copyrights, there’s no incentive for anyone in China to invent anything. By simply complying with international standards, though, China could unlock untold millions of creative minds, one of which might come up with the clean, renewable fuel of tomorrow.

In Friedman’s view, humans aren’t playing god; we are god. “Have we introduced so much CO2 into nature’s operating system that we no longer know where nature stops and we start in shaping today’s weather?” he wonders.

Probably, when Friedman wrote that, he was on a plane -- doing his part for the environment.