An eminent columnist and author speaks to the future of green technology and travel.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman is arguably one of the most influential voices in current American journalism. The Brandeis- and Oxford-schooled Friedman writes engagingly on such heavy-duty subjects as immigration law, oil addiction, and outsourcing. His examination of globalism, The World is Flat, has sold two million copies, and he is a solid favorite to win his fourth Pulitzer Prize for his latest best-seller, Hot, Flat, and Crowded. No ivory-tower thinker, he's connecting with people in real life about the power of retooling the world's economy by preserving the planet. "I'm getting big, big audiences. It tells me that people are really hungry to talk about this agenda."

How would you summarize your new book?

The core of this book is that clean energy technology, clean water, all the clean sources of growth and sustenance are going to be the next great global industry. I know that for sure. What I don't know is who's going to lead that industry. Is it going to be America? Is it going to be Russia, China, Japan, India? All I know is ET, energy technology, is going to be the next great global industry, and if we want to maintain our standard of living we have to lead that industry. I want to make America the example of a country that grows rich, innovative, entrepreneurial, competitive, healthy, secure, and respected by taking the lead in inventing "clean and green" power, because I think many more people will follow us voluntarily than will ever reduce their emissions by compulsion of a treaty. If we build it, they will come.

Can America really out-green the rest of the world?

Absolutely, with the right leadership. Imagine what it would be like to have a president who, after taking the oath of office, might get on his bicycle and his wife might get on her bicycle and they bike their way down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House. I can tell you exactly what will happen the next morning. Thousands of Americans will go out and buy bicycles.

An op-ed in the Washington Post titled "Don't Go There" argued that tourism is "nothing short of a planet-threatening plague." What's your take?

In a world of increasingly rising, dangerous levels of CO2, and in a world of rising middle classes of India, China, Russia, Brazil—where more and more people will be able to do package tours like Americans or Europeans have done for years—there is no question that tourism has to put stress on ecosystems, on beaches, coral reefs, forests, ski slopes, and on ancient and cherished sites. But I just have a hard time saying, "Don't go there." Those charged with protecting those ecosystems have to be that much more vigilant. The real point is pay attention wherever you are. Pay attention to your environment, your ecosystem, your carbon footprint, whether you're at home or abroad. And if we all do that, then there's no reason that travel will hurt things. If none of us do that or we only do that episodically, then even the smallest amount of travel will cause damage. A hundred tourists can spoil a great site or a lush valley as easily as 100,000 if you don't have the right regulations.