View source for Hot, Flat, and Crowded

{{Short description|2008 English-language book by Thomas Friedman}}
{{Infobox book
| name      = Hot, Flat, and Crowded
| image     = Hotflatandcrowded.jpg
| caption   = 2008 hardcover version cover
| author    = [[Thomas Friedman]]
| country   = United States
| language  = English
| series           = 
| subject          = [[Global warming]], [[clean energy]] 
| genre            = Non-fiction
| publisher        = [[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]]
| publisher2       = 
| pub_date         = September 8, 2008 
| english_pub_date = 
| media_type       = Print, e-book
| pages            = 448 pp.
| awards           = 
| isbn             = 978-0312428921
| oclc             = 
| dewey            = 
| congress         = 
| preceded_by      = [[The World Is Flat]]
| followed_by      = [[That Used To Be Us]]
}}

'''''Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution—And How It Can Renew America''''' is a book by ''[[New York Times]]'' Foreign Affairs columnist [[Thomas Friedman]], proposing that the solutions to [[global warming]] and the best method to regain the United States' economic and political stature in the world are to embrace the [[clean energy]] and green technology industries. The title derives from the convergence of Hot ([[global warming]]), Flat ([[globalization]], as discussed in Friedman's book ''[[The World Is Flat]]'') and Crowded ([[population growth]]).

The book was released on September 8, 2008, by [[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]].<ref name="HotFlat">{{Cite book | last = Thomas Friedman | author-link = Thomas Friedman | title = Hot, Flat, and Crowded | year = 2008 | publisher = [[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]], New York | isbn = 978-0-374-16685-4 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/hotflatcrowded00frie }}</ref> The audiobook was released simultaneously by [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan Audio]]. The cover art is taken from [[Hieronymus Bosch]]'s ''[[The Garden of Earthly Delights]]''.

A second edition of the book was published in November 2009.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}

== Summary ==
In the book, Friedman addresses what he sees as America's loss of focus and national purpose since [[9/11]] and the global [[environmental crisis]]. He advocates that [[global warming]], rapidly growing populations, and the expansion of the global middle class are leading to a convergence of hot, flat, and crowded. He argues that the solution to the environmental threat and the best way for America to renew its purpose are linked: take the lead in a worldwide effort to replace wasteful, inefficient energy practices with a strategy for [[clean energy]], [[Efficient energy use|energy efficiency]], and conservation. This means that the big economic opportunities have shifted from IT ([[Information Technology]]) in recent decades to ET (renewable [[Environmental Technologies]]).<ref name="CalCars">{{cite web|url=http://www.calcars.org/calcars-news/996.html|title=T. Friedman's New Bestseller Hot, Flat & Crowded Touts Plug-Ins|publisher=[[CalCars]]|date=2008-09-08|access-date=2009-04-05}}</ref> Friedman frequently uses 2050 as a marker for when it will be too late for our world to reverse the harmful [[effects of climate change]].

Friedman writes that the needed green revolution of the title would be more ambitious than any project so far undertaken: It will be the biggest innovation project in American history; and it will change everything from transportation to the utilities industry. This project is described in terms of nation-building.

The book alleges we've gone from the "Cold War Era" to the "Energy-Climate Era", marked by five major problems: growing demand for scarcer supplies, massive transfer of wealth to dictators, disruptive [[climate change]], the lower class falling behind, and an accelerating [[Biodiversity loss|loss of biodiversity]]. He argues that a green strategy is not simply about generating electric power, it is a new way of generating national power.<ref name="CalCars"/>

Many of the primary points of the book were built out of Friedman's ''[[New York Times Magazine]]'' essay, "The Power of Green",<ref>{{cite web |author=Thomas L. Friedman |title=The Power of Green |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/magazine/15green.t.html?scp=1&sq=%22green%20is%20the%20new%20red%20white%20and%20blue%22&st=cse |work=[[New York Times Magazine]] |date=April 3, 2005 |access-date=2008-09-10}}</ref> and the ''[[Foreign Policy]]'' article, "The First Law of Petropolitics".<ref>{{cite web |author=Thomas L. Friedman |title=The First Law of Petropolitics |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3426 |work=[[Foreign Policy]] |date=May–June 2006 |access-date=2008-09-10}}</ref>

The book has been criticized for ignoring [[overpopulation]] as the root cause of the problems it analyzes, as Friedman writes extensively about [[resource scarcity]], but does not address excessive demand.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shragg|first=Karen|date=2015|title=Move Upstream: A Call to Solve Overpopulation|url=https://www.movingupstream.com/|publisher=Freethought House|isbn=9780988493834}}</ref>

== Editions ==
* 1st edition, [[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]], 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-374-16685-4}}
* Unabridged Audio book, [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan Audio]], 2008, {{ISBN|978-1-4272-0458-5}}
* Abridged Audio book, [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan Audio]], 2008, {{ISBN|978-1-4272-0460-8}}
* Release 2.0 Updated and Expanded November 2009.

==See also==
{{portal|Books}}
*''[[An Inconvenient Truth]]''
*''[[Collapse (book)|Collapse]]''
*[[Green New Deal]]
*''[[Merchants of Doubt]]''
*''[[Requiem for a Species]]''
*''[[Storms of my Grandchildren]]''
*''[[Greg Craven (teacher)|What's the Worst That Could Happen?: A Rational Response to the Climate Change Debate]]''
*''[[Why We Disagree About Climate Change]]''

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|http://www.thomaslfriedman.com}}
*[https://www.c-span.org/video/?205790-2/green-red-white-blue Presentation by Friedman on '' Hot, Flat, and Crowded'', May 30, 2008], [[C-SPAN]]

{{S-start}}
{{Succession box
  | before = ''[[sTORI Telling]]'' <br/> by [[Tori Spelling]]
  | title  = #1 [[New York Times Best Seller list|'''New York Times''' Best Seller]] [[New York Times Non-Fiction Bestsellers of 2008|Non-Fiction]]
  | years  = September 28, 2008 - October 19, 2008
  | after  = ''[[The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life]]'' <br/> by [[Alice Schroeder]].
}}
{{S-end}}

{{Thomas Friedman}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hot, Flat, And Crowded}}
[[Category:2008 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:2008 in the environment]]
[[Category:Climate change books]]
[[Category:Farrar, Straus and Giroux books]]