Hot, Flat and crowded - Book Report/Review Example

Friedman describes the three forces as: one global warming – that is going at a slow pace; second flattening- is the rise of middles class citizens who are consuming like Americans; and third global population growth – that is more and more people are living the middle class lifestyle. Friedman on one hand thinks of the global growth a blessing for global stability but on the other hand fears that it has enormous resource complications. For example in order to turn on just one 60 watt light bulb by the next billion people, it will require about 20 new 500 MW power plants so that everyone can turn on just one light.

The Need to be Green Friedman is of the view that the world is on an unsustainable path in many aspects. Global warming is affecting the world in ways we cannot imagine and more and more people are joining in the venture. As the middle classes are rising they demand a middle class consumption level as well. Differences in living standards are flattened out by the level of development and modernization of a country. This increase in demand puts a lot of pressure on the world’s resources and the increase in population will put further pressure and potentially make the problem worse.

According to Friedman these issues need to be addressed fast and America with an attitude of idleness is losing its grounds. At many places, he discusses that the environmental crisis is providing America with an opportunity to build the nation and emerge as a super power and world leader again. Yet he is forgetting that in order to deal with an environmental situation global participation and coordination is required. The examples given in the book are also of global nature. The author desperately drives attention towards a green revolution making the planet safer for the world.

This will mean that in order for America to get its grooves back, the oil and money should not support the world’s Petrodictators. According to Friedman the growing demand for energy supplies, natural resources, energy poverty, disruptive climate change and the massive transfer of wealth to oil rich countries and their petrodictators are the problems that the world is intensifying (26,27). The issues raised by hot, flat and crowded world are so fundamental that they define a new era known as the Energy-Climate-Era.

In this aspect he focuses on China as a leading economy and enforces that China has a determining impact on the environment in the future. He depicts that “if China can make a stable transition to clean power and an energy-and-resource-efficient economy, we as a planet have a chance to mitigate climate change, energy poverty, petrodictatorship, and biodiversity loss in significant ways.” (334). The crucial question for him is that can America really lead and China follows. But what if China really wants to be in the driving seat?

As China is the leading economy and some day when they are the sole leaders they will come to a point when they realize that these are the most important issues threatening the world right now and a safer way is the smartest. The important thing to note here is whether the Americans are ready to follow the lead. The Politics and Unsustainability A disturbing trend the author notifies with is how America has built walls around itself disconnecting emotionally from the rest of