The first thing to say about this book is that it is comprehensive. The second is that it is seriously honest about the challenges we face in this country. The third thing to say is that it is ultimately hopeful. It’s important to keep this in mind when reading the comprehensive details of the enormous challenge it will take to become a “code green” society. (Code Green refers to the terrorist alerts currently in place. Friedman argues we need a green code that alerts us to the urgency of the global climate, energy, and populations crisis.)
Not only has Thomas Friedman amassed comprehensive scientific details about climate change, global environmental issues, and technological innovation, he has done it with astonishing rhetorical skill, free of trendy clichés, and packed with striking images. He has a great gift for metaphors that precisely describe a complex argument. For instance, “Where Birds Don’t Fly” is the chapter heading that comes from a description of the tightly guarded American Embassy in Turkey. It is the most well-protected building in the world, leaving the Americans safe, secure, and radically isolated. For Friedman, the image describes the acute problem America has in the world — a place so protected that birds won’t fly over it.
The core argument is very simple: 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.
The way forward for America, Friedman asserts, is to become the leader of the world in solving the most bracing problem facing the planet. If we do not step up to this leadership challenge, we will forsake our heritage and become a second rate nation unable to face myriad threats of the “petro-dictators” who sustain our deadly addiction to oil.
With a blend of positive, almost joyous, optimism combined with darkly honest realism, he offers stories from all over the world of real people and organizations making positive changes that will enable us to live in what he calls ECE: the Energy-Climate Era. On leave from The New York Times, Friedman traveled the world doing first-rate research on his subject that has clearly captured his own imagination and personal life. Hot, Flat and
Crowded is the natural sequel to his 2005 book, The World is Flat, which describes the global rise of the middle classes and the consequences of India and China rising to prominence.
One cannot read his new book without sensing the urgency of the problem and the actual steps that are possible to take right now to change course. He rejects every simple answer to the real crisis we are facing with a scathing dismissal of all the trendy “easy ways to go green.” Easy answers are delusional and dangerous because they offer a vision that doesn’t require any sacrifice of anyone. This is exactly the vision that brought us to the brink of disaster.
Instead of simplicity without sacrifice, he offers a positive vision of stewardship of our resources with all the candor necessary about the steps we must take if permanent social change is to occur. This vision of stewardship is remarkably biblical, grounded in Genesis and complete with stories about people actually living it. He lays out a moral framework that every faith community would do well to learn and practice. Writing as journalist but sounding much like a rabbi offering counsel, Friedman asks, “When do we feel best about ourselves as Americans? It’s when we are doing things for others with others. Leading the green technology revolution would enable us to do just that.” He commends this ethic of stewardship as “one of the ways we can get our groove back, our moral authority.” Friedman’s advice to leave no carbon footprint gains integrity by his own personal commitments, which he describes in some detail including building an energy-efficient home and driving a hybrid vehicle.
Alternately conscience stricken and deeply inspired to take concrete actions within my grasp, I came away with a desire to make some real changes in my own life and my faith community. Having read the book, one thing I cannot do is plead ignorance nor be sanguine about the urgency of this moment in this country and world. Faith communities should read this book as an aid toward reclaiming a serious stewardship of God’s good creation now threatened by very human practices that can and must be changed, for the sake of all living creatures.
Roy Howard is pastor of Saint Mark Church, Rockville, Md.
