Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman

I've always liked Thomas Friedman's articles in the New York Times, and I loved his last two books, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, and The World is Flat. This book, if anything, covers even more, and more urgently if a little less optimistically than the last two. Its a very thoughtful and yet panoramic view of how climate and energy use are linked, and the implications for education, investment, jobs, and the economy now and in the future.

One of the most compelling chapters was on Energy Poverty, the lack of electricity available in Africa and how it impacts kids trying to do their homework, adults trying to get jobs or business trying to persist. A whole continent without electricity in this day and age is a huge detriment, and will only make matters worse and worse in a vicious cycle as these people fall farther behind the rest of the world.

Another fascinating chapter was A Million Noahs, A Million Arks, about the importance of essentially community organizers who are also biodiversity experts who save their little corner of the world by letting the community see how their own survival depends on it.

The Energy-Climate Era, which began in the year 2000 is upon us, and Friedman's view is that this is a make or break pivotal moment in time, and if we don't succeed in meeting the challenge of reducing CO2 loads in the atmosphere quickly by using clean energy sources, there won't be a future economy, or a future mankind, to worry about. His main contention is that everybody doing their little part is no where near enough. Government has to set a price signal on oil that will provide incentives for a quick and massive transition to alternative energy sources.

He sounds optimistic in that he believes it can be done, but sober in that its going to take big actions by big government now to do it. He provides many angles of vision on this problem, as he always does, in a very entertaining, interesting and absorbing way, so I highly recommend the book, especially for those who think we may be able to work our way out of this recession with green jobs. That won't happen without some major policy shifts at the highest levels of our government.

One happy note: as the price of oil decreases, the past would indicate that freedom and democracy in petrodictatorships increases. One can hope for that at least.