Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America

Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America | Thomas L. Friedman | An Important Book

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Hot, Flat, and Cro...

	Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America Thomas L. Friedman Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008 - 448 pages average customer review:based on 131 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A manifesto for our times

What a timely book! Following an election in which the future of the planet was hotly debated, the market is ripe for this accessible yet information-packed treatise on the perilous state of the environment, how we got here and how we must proceed if we are to avoid catastrophe.

Thomas L. Friedman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign affairs journalist for the New York Times, is known for his ability to synthesize information from diverse sources. He uses the first half of the book to thoroughly convince us that we do indeed have a problem, and a very grave one. In his past books, Friedman has argued that globalization is "flattening" the world, making competition between countries more possible and more fair. China and India's booming economies are giving millions more people opportunities to move up to the middle class. These millions feel they deserve a better life --- better being defined as more comfortable, consuming more resources like their American brothers and sisters.

The problem is that we are quickly running out of the cheap, dirty fuel that allowed the first world countries to develop. But increasing carbon dioxide emissions from dirty fuels like oil and coal are contributing to what Friedman terms "global weirding." Add to this mix burgeoning population growth, and you get a world that is hot, flat and crowded. Friedman provides plenty of scientific support to back up his claims that life as we know it (cheap gas, cheap energy, a human-friendly climate) is endangered, one way or another. As he puts it, "if we don't make the hard choices, nature will make them for us."

The second half of the book is a guided tour through what some of those "hard choices" may be. "Green" must be more than a fad, he argues, and every magazine article that touts "easy" ways to save the planet does a disservice by trivializing what may in fact be deadly serious. Yet Friedman believes we are up to the task and that America must lead the way in both innovation and conservation. He describes a new Energy-Climate era in which information technology meets energy technology. In his vision, our washer, dryer and refrigerator become smart appliances that communicate with a revolutionized energy grid to buy electrons when they are cheapest. No matter whether our cars are plugged in at home or in a parking lot, they can both buy and sell electricity, depending on whether they need it or have it.

But to get to this sustainable utopia, our government and culture need to make investments now. We have to engineer our economy so that alternative energy innovations are made because industry knows they will be competitive. If that means keeping gasoline prices above $4/gallon in order to do so, so be it. If we doubt that will work, we need only look to Europe, where gas prices are astronomical and small, energy-efficient cars are the norm.

America must lead, Friedman argues, or we'll be forced to play catch-up with China and India. He introduces us to some American companies and universities already innovating toward a clean, sustainable future and examines what other countries are doing as well. We need a course correction, and with HOT, FLAT, AND CROWDED, Friedman has provided a manifesto for our times.

--- Reviewed by Eileen Zimmerman Nicol

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An Important Book

I have read the entire book. The quick recommendation - Read this book!

Some people try to get the gist of a non-fiction book in a chapter or two and review based upon whether they agree with the author or not. They don't listen to the author's arguments. They are concentrating only on their response. This book is too profound for such a shallow evaluation.

This book takes some time to read. Every chapter adds weight and depth. The book starts by describing our economic and environmental problems related to how we as a people now live. It describes the consequences of business as usual. The latter part of the book outlines solutions and political problems slowing or preventing us from implementing solutions.

While reading the book I shifted from optimism because of the lucid solutions, to skepticism about whether Americans will think long and deep enough to do what needs to be done. The real question is whether our national government is so controlled by special interests that congress and the special interests would let the country collapse before looking beyond the next election cycle and special interest profit for the short term.

This book made me recall Jared Diamond's book Collapse in which he describes many civilizations that collapsed and died because political deadlocks prevented them from doing what needed to be done. They died because of inflexibility. They died because they clung to "principles" and beliefs that were outmoded - beliefs based upon premises which may have once been true, but which were no longer true.

Few readers of this book will come away without seeing the problem. If enough readers do that - then there may be political solutions.

With the world population increasing at over five million people a month, energy scarcity is inevitable. With the falling value of the dollar we can't just buy our way out of the problem. We must plan for change.

Our country and the world may depend on how many people take the trouble to examine the problems that face us. People who don't see the health and environmental problems may still see the economic, political and security problems posed by our way of living.

I hope you will take the time to read this book. If this book does not make you feel like you need to act, then read Jared Diamond's book Collapse. Draw the parallels. Think and you will be moved.

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A must read for those with "Inquiring Minds" !

Another book that I highly recommend is entitled: " Hot, Flat, and Crowded" written by Thomas L. Friedman.

This book is a study of America's Role in the World for addressing Global Warming, clean, efficient energy, and conservation which he calls: "Code Green". As Friedman writes: "Not only are American's leadership the key to the healing of the Earth, it is also our best strategy for the renewal of America". A very thought provoking, and excellent Read.

The "Pen is Mightier than the Sword", and books bring knowledge in hopes that history will never be repeated, or that we can correct the environmental, and economic crises confronting, not only America, but the Global Community.

"TO THINE OWNSELF BE TRUE" !

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Global Weirding

Excellent book. Whether you are a fan of Thomas Friedman or you don't know who he is, I would recommend reading this book if you want to learn what "Global Weirding" is. This book ties the future of the United States to how we deal with global warming. I have enjoyed it immensely.

Long, Repetitive and Wordy

There should be a law that mandates warning labels on sequels. In my experience, they cost more but just do not measure up to the original. It was true for Brokaw's "Boom," and Nesbitt's "Mind Set," and so it is with Thomas Friedman's "Hot, Flat and Crowded."

Admittedly, Friedman's "The World Is Flat" was a masterpiece - the written equivalent of watching "Raiders of the Lost Ark" for the first time. And, like the original, Friedman formulaically weaves in countless stories and interviews from his extensive global travels. However, unlike "The World is Flat," which dealt with so many diverse things that had changed/were changing the world, this is a mono treatise on Code Green.

Page after painstaking page, chapter after repetitive chapter about going green. OK - got it! Green is good, but even Al Gore must have zoned out after a while.

Still, there is a lot in "Hot, Flat and Crowded" that helps you understand the magnitude of the environmental issues and the urgency to act now. But yet, you still have to wonder why none of these issues emerged/were debated - or even seriously presented - in any depth during the past election. There was a lot of chanting about "Drill baby drill," but not nearly enough specific thought or planned action - even lay-level discussion about the competitive advantage surrounding environmental opportunities, or even the urgency for the United States to lead in this area.

So, how influential is "Hot, Flat and Crowded", especially when compared to its predecessor? This has to be seen as a disappointment, but says far more about the simplistic nature of today's red and blue state political scene than the author.

Mr. Friedman is smart and talented. However, despite his experience and considerable gifts, my sense is that a only small percentage of very determined readers will ever slog their way through to the end of the book, which is a pity. I wish he had used his skills to produce in under 200 pages what took over 400 pages to too ponderously propound.

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