Saturday, August 29, 2009

Part I: Where We Are (chapter 2)

You probably didn't need to read this book to know that the world is becoming "hot, flat, and crowded." Friedman's point in writing this book has to do with the convergence of these three factors at this point in time.

Briefly explain how these three factors (hot, flat, and crowded) are interconnected - what are the relationships among them?

12 comments:

  1. The three problems that Friedman brings up in his book, the fact that the world is becoming hot, flat, and crowded, are all directly intertwined. The world’s rising temperature is a direct effect of the increasing levels of consumption on our planet Earth, and in turn, the increasing level of consumption is a direct result of the growing middleclass. This large group of middleclass persons is the effect of rising population numbers moving toward one economic class, or as Friedman says it is the effect of crowded meeting flat. As the majority of Earth’s population is becoming one economic class, more materials and resources are necessary to support this growing number, and their demand as consumers. These demands continue to further exasperate the planets resources advancing the effect of global warming, and making our planet even hotter.

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  2. Kevin L.

    In chapter two, Friedman coins the term E.C.E. or Energy Climate Era, which started in the beginning of this millennium. This is the era to start to combat the "hot, the "flat," and the "crowded." Using a fact from the UN Population Division, the world is to increase by 2.5 billion, about the total population in 1950, in only 43 years, or about a generation. Leaving their traditional lives on the farm, people are filling maybe overfilling cities and taking up modern, chaotic lifestyles which leads to the next point. What Friedman refers to "flat" is how all the nations of the globalizing world are interconnecting with each other and are equaling each other in economic well-being. Demand will skyrocket for fossil fuels that are increasingly becoming scarcer and scarcer by every passing moment. "Hot" is self-explanatory through understanding global climate change, the large scale pumping of pernicious greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, raising up the temperature of the planet by a significant few degrees. These are the perfect conditions for disaster. The world is growing more crowded, losing its precious resources through accelerated growth of mankind, warming up through the extraction and consumption of the depleting resources. This may be the beginning of the end.

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  3. As the world becomes more crowded -- as the human population expands incredibly rapidly and without any "virgin commons" to exploit -- enormous strain is put on the earth's natural resources in an effort to feed everyone, and increasing numbers of people use increasing energy and resources and cause increasing pollution and degradation of the natural environment, all of which contribute to global climate change.

    As the world becomes more "flat," the middle class expands in developing countries throughout the world, and each new member of the middle class consumes more and takes up more space and energy than before. In addition, modern technology allows the middle class to see the way Americans live and try to imitate our bigger-is-better lifestyle, which they build mostly using traditionally energy-inefficient and wasteful methods. The increase in consumption of resources and energy required to support the new masses of middle class people contributes further to global warming.

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  4. Friedman identifies "a combination of technology, market, and geopolitical events" as the main cause for the "flattening" of the economic playing field. More people than ever have been able to enter the middle class and lead their as such. With the development of the individual and technology to encourage and enable globalization, people are able to trade and market more than ever. This "flattening" of the economic playing field has enabled the people who have entered the middle class to consume more, requiring those who produce to produce more. The growing world population is consuming more as more of them are joining the middle class. This is where flat meets crowded. All of this production and consumption requires Earth's natural resources which are becoming more and more scarce. With an increase in production and distribution comes an increase of CO2 emissions and depletion of natural resources such as oil, which cannot be restored. The way that capitalism has grown and spread along with the growing middle class and their needs have polluted the Earth. The greenhouse effect that once kept our planet at a comfortable temperature is now overheating our planet because of greenhouse gas emissions. The convergence of hot, flat, and crowded has made each of the problems more serious. Only by finding ways to address each of these problems and their intersections, can something be done to better the situation.

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  5. Hot is caused by global warming, which in return is caused by the people on earth. If the number of people increases the planet becomes crowded and if 4 billion people effect the environment then adding millions more will only make things worse. Another huge factor in overcrowding is housing. If the population rises another 1 billion people those people need a house to live in. if we continue to make houses we are going to cut into land that proves houses for nature as well cut into possible farm land. If we cut into the farm land there will not be enough food to feed all the people. Flat refers to the growing middle class or the increase of consumers. This increase in the middle class means that more people can afford to buy things. If people a consuming more and more product, more product needs to be manufactured. Increases in manufacturing means more resources are used. Also when you manufacture different products you are sending more and more CO2 into the air. If CO2 is sent in to are atmosphere then you see and increase in global warming. hot flat and crowded are all connected

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  6. The “hot” problem would not exist, at least no this extent, without the “flat” or “crowded.” Let’s face it. There are a lot of people running around on this planet. The UN predicts that there will be 9.2 billion people on this planet by 2050, an increase that “is equivalent to the total size of the world population in 1950.” And as technology and such continues, people have become generally more wealthy, and therefore have more access to consumer goods. With more people wanting goods, more resources must be used to make these goods. Trees are being cut down not only to make wooden products, but also to make room for factories and housing developments. The trucks that are driven to transport these raw materials to the factories, and then to the stores when they are turned into products release carbon dioxide. With all these trees cut down, more and more of the carbon dioxide is staying in the atmosphere, and we are beginning to see the effects as demonstrated by the melting of the Larsen ice shelf. The three problems seamlessly interconnect to create one great triple threat.

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  7. The connection among the three terms, "Hot, Flat, and Crowded", is as follows. First of all, the human population on Earth is growing exponentially, while at the same time, the population is moving towards a larger middle class. That connects "Crowded" and "Flat". Secondly, as the middle class grows, demand for products that require extensive amounts of energy and contaminating fuels, is increasing greatly. The production of these resources as well as most of the resources themselves and their transportation, release chemicals and pollutants, including CO2, into our atmosphere, causing global warming. And that connects "Crowded" and Hot", and therefore "Hot" and "Flat", and therefore "Hot, Flat, and Crowded". So you see, all three are interconnected.

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  8. Global warming, the surge in the middle class population, and overpopulation are all deeply connected problems that we face. The already immense, and rapidly growing world population requires immense resources, which deplete the earth’s natural resources, and release greenhouse gases in the process.
    Resources are also used up by producers, in response to demand coming from the growing middle class. With more production also comes more pollution. The impact of both the increased world population and the increased consumption due to the middle class, both contribute to climate change. And the results of climate change, are starting to, and will deplete natural resources even more in the future. (e.g. little islands being swallowed up, desertification..)

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  12. Our increasing economic flattening and global population growth, can in many respect be seen as fundamental corners stones to the much greater problem of Global Warming. Alone economic flattening and population growth are rater benign circumstances, but given the current state of our planet they serve as magnifiers for global warming and several other impeding environmental disasters. An ever burgeoning middle class means an expanding group of people with the resources to consume more. This consumption wastes our valuable and increasing precious natural resources, and in most every case is a large contributor to global warming. These people are no longer living simple lives of subsistence farming and relatively sustainable practices, they are now buying TVs, cars, meat, computers, and any number of other products of our globalized economy. It is the middle class that is capable of making this biggest lifestyle changes to combat warming, but the current middle class path is simply one of EXTREME consumption. Increased population size also just multiplies are problems. As Friedman points out the majority of this population growth is in countries with limited resources, where every new jump in population means one more coal fired power plant, and 1,000s more people driving dirty polluting old cars. Both of these factors are fundamental areas which we inevitably have to be addressed in our struggle to stop global warming and possibly keep our planet around a little longer.

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