Book Discussion - Hot, Flat, and Crowded

Wednesday, February 25^th
In the library 12:30 to 1:30

Come join your friends and co-workers to share your thoughts on the host of environmental challenges facing the world today and on one perspective in particular. The Whole Earth Library will be hosting a discussion of Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - and How it Can Renew America by controversial and influential New York Times columnist Thomas L.Friedman. Extending his discussion of globalization into the realm of global warming, Friedman follows the connections between the environment, the economy, energy, and national security in what he terms the coming "Energy-Climate Era." In the face of environmental crisis, he sees hope in renewed American political and moral leadership as well as in transformational innovation unleashed by the American marketplace.

Please let us know at library@thoreau.org if you are interested in attending and/or if you need help finding a copy.

Note: If you’re interested in the subject matter and don’t have time to read the book, please feel free to join the discussion.

From the publisher's description of the book:

Thomas L. Friedman's no. 1 bestseller The World Is Flat has helped millions of readers to see globalization in a new way. Now Friedman brings a fresh outlook to the crises of destabilizing climate change and rising competition for energy—both of which could poison our world if we do not act quickly and collectively. His argument speaks to all of us who are concerned about the state of America in the global future.

Friedman proposes that an ambitious national strategy—which he calls "Geo-Greenism"—is not only what we need to save the planet from overheating; it is what we need to make America healthier, richer, more innovative, more productive, and more secure.

As in The World Is Flat, he explains a new era—the Energy-Climate era—through an illuminating account of recent events. He shows how 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the flattening of the world by the Internet (which brought 3 billion new consumers onto the world stage) have combined to bring climate and energy issues to Main Street. But they have not gone very far down Main Street; the much-touted "green revolution" has hardly begun. With all that in mind, Friedman sets out the clean-technology breakthroughs we, and the world, will need; he shows that the ET (Energy Technology) revolution will be both transformative and disruptive; and he explains why America must lead this revolution—with the first Green President and a Green New Deal, spurred by the Greenest Generation.