Energy and Environment

Hot, Flat, and Crowded

Thomas L. Friedman is a 3 time Pulitzer Prize winner for his achievements on the global issues like climate change and energy usage. On November 17, he came to speak at the University over his new book, “Hot, Flat, and Crowded.” In his lecture, Friedman enthusiastically spoke about the increasing global issues or concerns and what we need to do to stop them. What sets his lecture apart from the others are his shocking statistics on current worldwide conditions and a proposed solution more dramatic than any other for the green movement.

The title of his book, “Hot, Flat, and Crowded,” stems from his first edition, “The World is Flat.” That is to say, the title of the book represents the underlying problem - that the world is “Hot, Flat, and Crowded.” Although this sounds a little funny, it is no joke. Over the past hundred years, the global temperature has increased by 1 or 2 degrees. This may not sound like much, but consider Friedman’s comparison that only 1 or 2 degrees in a person’s body temperature makes them very sick. A couple degrees more, and the person must go to the hospital. The constant rise in temperature is very alarming and very dangerous. The world is Hot. His next point deals with the fact that every country is trying to expand. Every country wants to grow to be even better to one day live “like Americans.” This effort is for the countries to be able to eat what they want, when they want, to have grandiose homes and transportation, and to be able to spend, spend, spend. Since America has no competition to compete against in their living style, “we’ve grown a little lax.” We are not increasing our usage, so the countries are leveling off to the high platform we set. The world is Flat. Finally, population growth has increased exponentially over the years. More people are being born, while more people are living longer. This is bringing rise to even more mouths to feed, land to fill,