Sunroom Desk

Thomas Friedman’s Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution and How It Can Renew America was first published at the end of summer 2008, just before the economy turned its downward pace from quick descent to nose dive.

One year later, Congress has adjourned for its August recess, postponing health care reform and also passage of a “Cap and Trade” bill to limit greenhouse gas emissions until it reconvenes in September. During the break, Sunroom Desk will explore Friedman’s coverage of climate change and carbon emissions issues, and his insistence that 21st century America lead the world in green energy and sustainable economic growth.

Friedman used economic tensions becoming visible in 2008 as a metaphor for ignoring the true costs (“externalities”) of poor energy and environmental resource management. In Green Is the New Red, White, and Blue (Chapter 8), he writes:

…the human race can no longer continue to power its growth with the fossil-fuel-based system that has evolved since the Industrial Revolution…

The days of a “subprime planet” are over—a planet we could own for no money down, where there were no interest payments until sometime far into the future and all the true costs were hidden, or chopped up into such little pieces and scattered in so many directions that no one knew who owned what.

Following this passage is Friedman’s call to action for the U.S., as he predicts that in the next fifty years, the ability to develop clean, renewable energy sources will determine a country’s economic vitality, environmental health, autonomy, and national security.

Tomorrow: Fuels from Above for Growth.