Thomas Friedman is an editorial journalist working for the New York Times. He often writes about issues surrounding the Middle East, but focuses on America and other foreign countries such as China. He is Jewish, well educated and in his sixties. His experiences as a teenager and the way he grew up influence the way he writes and is the reason for his focus on foreign affairs for the New York Times. He has also recently focused on a green revolution that needs to happen soon. Thomas Friedman's passion for environmentalism began from his passion for the Middle East because he saw that the world is not on a stable path and that a change needs to be made soon. Thomas Friedman's background is key to understanding his arguments and writing style. Thomas Friedman was born in Minnesota in 1953. He grew up in a Jewish family and attended Hebrew school five times a week before high school. He began his passion for journalism by writing for his high school newspaper and first became interested in the Middle East when he took a trip to Israel at Christmas when he was fifteen, which ignited a passion in him that drives him still today. . After high school, he was very successful in college and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Mediterranean Studies from Brandeis University. He then obtained a Master of Philosophy in Middle Eastern Studies from St Antony's College, Oxford. He then pursued a career in journalism after earning his degree (Biography). The source of his passion for the Middle East is obvious, but how he also became passionate about environmentalism is less obvious. He wrote a New York Times bestselling book called The World is Flat, which was about the rise of the middle countries... middle of the paper... makes him passionate about his own country too. His travels, due to those passions and his work, are what allowed him to see the world and the state in which it finds itself. He sees the current trend the world is heading towards and realizes that a revolution is needed. He also sees it as a way for the United States to benefit and grow. At the end of his book, he says, "We must redefine green and rediscover America, and in so doing, rediscover ourselves and what it means to be American...if we rise to the challenge [of a revolution], and truly become King- generation – redefining green and rediscovering, reviving and regenerating America – we and the world will not only survive but thrive in a hot, flat, crowded era” (412). to save the world from the path it is heading towards.