BOOK REVIEW: Hot, Flat, and Crowded

In this ever-flattening world we inhabit, climate and energy issues are on the rise, impacting our planet in not-so-wonderful ways.

In his new book, titled Hot, Flat, and Crowded, three-time Pulitzer Prize winning author Thomas L. Friedman brings to the forefront two issues looming large over America: global warming and overcrowding due to the population boom.

While his last opus dealt primarily with the "flattening" of the global economy, Friedman's Hot, Flat, and Crowded delves into global warming's exponential effect on myriad aspects of our lives -- in America and on a global scale -- and the ramifications of overcrowding in locations where poverty and lack of resources are already devastating to the population.

America has lost its way over the last three decades, Friedman states, placing particular emphasis on the loss of direction post-9/11.

He refers to America as having the potential to become a place where birds don't fly, and his description of such a place is troubling: "A place where birds don't fly is a place where people don't mix, ideas don't get sparked, friendships don't get forged, stereotypes don't get broken, collaboration doesn't happen, trust doesn't get built, and freedom doesn't ring," Friedman writes. "That is not the kind of place we want America to be."

This characterization of the potential America is based on the three theories expressed in the book's title.

The term "hot" is a reference to global warming, which began in the 1700s with the Industrial Revolution and built momentum with the American Revolution and the birth of the automobile. The effects of global warming are increasingly severe: The world has witnessed rising sea levels, Arctic shrinkage, altered patterns of agriculture and glacier retreat.

Upon realizing these effects, we are entering the Energy-Climate Era, according to Friedman. This era, which began on Jan. 1, 2000, embodies the realization that "fossil fuels are exhaustible, increasingly expensive, and politically, ecologically and climatically toxic."

The term "flat" refers to the level playing field of the global economy.

According to Friedman, "a combination of technological, market, and geopolitical events at the end of the 20th century had leveled the global economic playing field in a way that was enabling more people than ever, from more places than ever, to take part in the global economy -- and, in the best of cases, to enter the middle class."

Friedman attributes the resulting economic conditions to the creation of the personal computer and the Internet, and the development of software compatible among all PCs. These innovations make it possible for a person to become involved in the global economy in an easier way, thus increasing the middle class population.

The term "crowded" refers to the population boom over the last century and the particular effects it's had in countries with scarce resources. In countries such as Afghanistan, Liberia, Niger, Ethiopia and Yemen, the population is expected to triple by mid-century.

"Just beyond the raw numbers, all those countries will therefore have a large concentration of young people," Friedman writes. "If their basic freedoms and basic needs -- food, housing, education, employment -- are not met, they could be easily attracted to violence, civil unrest, and extremism."

These three factors facing not only our country, but the world, are daunting. As Friedman indicates, however, we can begin to alleviate the issues by going green.

The green movement is taking hold of so many aspects of American life that the term "green" was the single most trademarked term in 2007, Friedman notes, adding that the green movement must come into play with regard to energy consumption, technology, governance and our lifestyles as Americans. We can only hope that countries such as China go green, so it's up to Americans to lead the movement toward an environment-friendly, sustainable way of life. In doing so, our world will be less hot, flat and crowded.

Hot, Flat, and Crowded
Author: Thomas L. Friedman
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2008
Price: $27.95 Hardcover

*This story is from Converge magazine's Winter 2009 issue.

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