Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America PDF
Preview Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America
THOMAS L. F R I E D M AN Hot, Flat, an d Crowded I WHY WE NEED A GREEN REVOLUTION- AND HOW IT CAN RENEW AMERICA U.S.A. $27.95 Canada $30.95 THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN'S phenomenal number-one bestseller The World Is Flat has helped millions of readers to see the world in a new way. In his brilliant, essential new book, Friedman takes a fresh and provocative look at two of the biggest chal lenges we face today: America's surprising loss of focus and national purpose since 9/11; and the global environ mental crisis, which is affecting everything from food to fuel to forests. In this groundbreaking account of where we stand now, he shows us how the solutions to these two big problems are linked —how we can restore the world and revive America at the same time. Friedman explains how global warming, rapidly growing populations, and the astonishing expansion of the world's middle class through globalization have produced a planet that is "hot, flat, and crowded." Already the earth is being affected in ways that threaten to make it dangerously unstable. In just a few years, it will be too late to fix things —unless the United States steps up now and takes the lead in a worldwide effort to replace our wasteful, inefficient energy practices with a strategy for clean energy, energy efficiency, and conservation that Friedman calls Code Green. This is a great challenge, Friedman explains, but also a great opportunity, and one that America cannot afford to miss. Not only is American leadership the key to the healing of the earth; it is also our best strategy for the renewal of America. In vivid, entertaining chapters, Friedman makes it clear that the green revolution we need is like no revolu tion the world has seen. It will be the biggest innovation project in American history; it will be hard, not easy; and it will change everything from what you put into your car to what you see on your electric bill. But the payoff for America will be more than just cleaner air. It will inspire Americans to something we haven't seen in a long time — nation-building in America —by summoning the intelli gence, creativity, boldness, and concern for the common good that are our nation's greatest natural resources. Hot, Flat, and Crowded is classic Thomas L. Friedman: fearless, incisive, forward-looking, and rich in surprising common sense about the challenge—and the promise —of the future. THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize three times for his work with The New York Times, where he serves as the foreign affairs columnist. He is the author of four previous books, all of them bestsellers: From Beirut to Jerusalem (1989), The Lexus and the Olive Tree (1999), Longitudes and Attitudes (2002), and The World Is Flat (2005). He lives in Bethesda, Maryland. A discussion guide for Hot, Flat, and Crowded is available at www.fsgbooks.com. Jacket design by Susan Mitchell Jacket art: The Garden of Earthly Delights (oil on panel), c. 1500, by Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516), Prado, Madrid, Spain / The Bridgeman Art Library Author photograph by Nancy Ostertag/Getty Images Farrar, Straus and Giroux www.fsgbooks.com www.thomaslfriedman.com America has a problem and the world has a problem. America's problem is that it has lost its way in recent years—partly because of 9/11 and partly because of the bad habits that we have let build up over the last three decades, bad habits that have weakened our society's ability and willingness to take on big challenges. The world also has a problem: It is getting hot, flat, and crowded. That is, global warming, the stunning rise of middle classes all over the world, and rapid population growth have converged in a way that could make our planet dangerously unstable. The best way for America to solve its big problem —the best way for America to get its "groove" back—is for us to take the lead in solving the world's big problem. Americans intuit that we're on the wrong track and that we need a course correction. If we want things to stay as they are—that is, if we want to maintain our technological, economic, and moral leadership and a habitable planet, rich with flora and fauna, leopards and lions, and human communities that can grow in a sustainable way—things will have to change around here, and fast. —from Hot, Flat, and Crowded ALSO BY THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN From Beirut to Jerusalem (1989) The Lexus and the Olive Tree (1999) Longitudes and Attitudes (2002) The World Is Flat (2005) Hot, Flat, and Crowded THOMAS L. F R I E D M AN Hot, Flat, and Crowded WHY WE NEED A GREEN REVOLUTION- AND HOW IT CAN RENEW AMERICA FARRAR, STRAUS AND GIROUX NEW YORK Farrar, Straus and Giroux 18 West 18th Street, New York 10011 Copyright © 2008 by Thomas L. Friedman All rights reserved Distributed in Canada by Douglas & Mclntyre Ltd. Printed in the United States of America First edition, 2008 Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint the following material: Excerpts from Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, copyright © 2006 by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Used by permission of Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Graphs reproduced with permission from Foreign Policy, www.ForeignPolicy.com, #154, May/June 2006. Copyright © 2006 by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Library of Congress Control Number: 2008930589 ISBN-13: 978-0-374-16685-4 ISBN-10: 0-374-16685-4 Designed by Jonathan D. Lippincott www.fsgbooks.com 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 FSC Mixed Sources Product group from welt-managed forests, controlled sources and recycled wood or fiber Cert no SCS-COC-00648 www.f sc org 01996 Forest Stewardship Council /V This book was printed on text paper containing 30 percent post-consumer recycled content.
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