ADDICTED TO OIL: THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN REPORTING
The Discovery Channel
Premieres Sat, June 24, at 10 p.m. ET

Original Link

This one-hour documentary, reported by Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign affairs columnist, Thomas L. Friedman, explores his ideas for a "geo-green alternative," a multilayered strategy for tackling a host of problems, from the funding of terrorist supporters through our gasoline purchases, to strengthening our economy through innovative technology.

Addicted to Oil examines a wide variety of developments taking place across the energy spectrum, from hybrid car enthusiasts who are converting their autos into "plug-ins" and getting 300 miles to a gallon of gas, to the current state of the hydrogen fuel cell. Other areas explored include "flex-fuel" vehicles that can run on an assortment of biofuels such as ethanol, which emits virtually no greenhouse gases and can be made from almost any biomass -- like sugar cane, corn and even certain types of grass. (For example, in Brazil, 40 percent of all fuel used by drivers is ethanol.) Solar and especially wind power have made great advances in practical technologies that are increasingly being used throughout the world. We'll also look at new "clean and green" coal plants that are being designed to sequester all carbon dioxide emissions.

Global warming is no longer a matter of debate, but a proven problem of potentially catastrophic proportions. As Friedman discovers in the course of our program, there is much we could do immediately, with technology at hand, to break our addiction to oil -- and developing technologies promise a future free of a sole dependence on fossil fuels, a truly post-oil era. It can be done, if we have the will and leadership to do it.