Review of Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America (Hardcover)

Friedman writes on world population, the increase of the global middle class, and the growing energy crisis.All of this has contributed to a world that is in desperate need of an energy solution.The thing I like about Friedman's approach is he's optimistic and he's practical.His major points are...

-- The battle over green (energy) will define the first part of the 21st century, just like the battle over red (communism) defined the last half of the 20th century.
-- Everyone needs to accept that oil will never again be cheap...
-- Off-shore drilling may be a temporary fix, but it's not the long-term solution.
-- The fossil-fuel age will end only when we invent our way out of it...
-- The last big innovation in energy production was nuclear power half a century ago, which is an important component to solving our energy problem, but we need additional solutions...
-- In order to further real innovation we need people "throwing crazy dollars at every idea, in every garage, that we have 100,000 people trying 100,000 things, five of which might work, and two might be the next green Google."
-- Friedman emphasizes the practical side of green - "It's the incredible sense of opportunity here. It's not just about saving the polar bears. It's not just about saving three generations from climate change. It's also about rising to the greatest economic opportunity that's come along in a long, long, time."

In the end, he is asking for collaboration and innovation.Of course that begs the question - where does the money come from for all of this?It's always easy to point at the government, but when we look at where real economic solutions have come from it's most often private industry.I wish Friedman would have written on how governments can create environments were private industry is incentivized to create, invent, and discover.Even so, Friedman's book is a needed wake-up call.



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