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I learned a great deal and better understand the political economic world around me for having read this book. I have used material from this book to support my freshman lectures in economics and business at the university where I teach.
I repeat. He did have a year to cash in on trying to convince to world that Oil and Coal are "FUELS FROM HELL" and wind and solar are "FUELS FORM HEAVEN". Friedman drones on and on for hundred of pages repeating himself, over and over. What it has to do with International Financial Reporting still remains a mystery. I was actually forced to read this book. al. But hey. It's too bad for him all of his scientific evidence has now been blown completely off the map with all the climate gate issues surfacing now.
Then trying to convince us that we need to be China for a day. I rep. It was a required reading text for an International Accounting course. Seriously. Repeating himself over and over. You get the point. And have the Government dictate all policies without recourse to the constitution et. Please stay away.
The overall approach of the book is that of a cheerleader columnist, as though everyone needs a pat on the back for doing their jobs or for innovating or for discussing scientific problems at a global level. I appreciate his assembly of the facts of climate change, biodiversity loss, and dirty fuel resource depletion. I agree with incentives. I disagree with him about treaties; I think they're useful. He should read Michael Pollan (many people are already doing this and have been for years). I agree, there should be subsidies for green energy investment. This book has many good ideas about how to green America, and some useful warnings about the consequences of not doing so, but the author writes as though he has just discovered many ideas that other people have been talking about and working on for years. I was interested in his argument about setting a floor price for oil.
I don't like books that cheerlead; I don't like feeling that I'm attending a speech of the Optimist's Club when I'm reading a book. His discussion of petrodictatorships was intriguing (as the price of oil rises, freedoms diminish). Also, and this is a critical point in a book that wants to be taken seriously, there is no bibliography, and there are no footnotes. I agree with him about biofuels: I don't like them either. At one point, he imagines an ideal farmer in South America, engaged in fully sustainable agriculture. I disagree with him about emulation: I don't think the rest of the world looks to the United States anymore as a leader in innovation or much else.
I agree with the idea that efficiency should be regarded as a resource. I was intrigued by his description of Germany's feed-in system which allowed an American company to produce solar cells at a market price. There is a lot of information in this book, and it could be a wake-up call, but I was still put off. The author wants us simply to believe him, and I do believe him, but not because he's him.
when there is crisis ther is chance. it told me what is our problem now and what is our solution. i am thinking what is my status and how can i grip this opportunity.
I've been reading books on climate change for years. Friedman's thesis goes on to say that economics can save the world that we are currently destroying. There is nothing easy about going green to save the planet. Thomas Friedman's book looks at climate change from an economic point of view.His thesis is that climate change is caused be economics. Whole new industries will arise and new jobs, which are so desperately needed now, will be created. It's not bad enough that the American way of life is the worst in terms of pollution. Almost all of them deal with just the science behind climate change and how science can stop or reverse climate change. His thinking is that the same ingenuity and resourcefulness that were responsible for the rise of America, making it the aspirational lifestyle of the third world, can be channeled into new, green industries that will mitigate the worst effects of climate change.He rightly points out that it will take more than the lists of "easy ways to go green" that are so popular these days.
Even worse is that the citizens of the developing world aspire to an American lifestyle. The effect of that many people all living an American lifestyle would be devastating for our planet.Fortunately, Mr. It will require a radical rethinking of how we live, work and play.His final argument is that this same need to develop technologies to save our planet will benefit us economically. No matter how you look at it, ecologically or economically, we cannot afford not to go green.
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