Thomas Friedman discusses 'Hot, Flat and Crowded'

Says U.S. must lead the way in an energy-technology revolution

WALTHAM, Mass. (Oct. 16, 2008) -- Thomas L. Friedman warned a Brandeis audience that the Earth is much sicker than previously estimated and can’t recover without the “biggest-scale project” ever undertaken by humankind.

“The hour is late,” he told several hundred students, faculty and other Brandeis community members. He argued that the planet, already overcrowded, is growing much warmer than even former Vice President Al Gore popularly projected and by some estimates has seen a jump of 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the industrial revolution. There are 6.2 billion people on the planet today, a population that by the year 2020 will grow by another one billion, Friedman said.

Friedman ’75, the three-time Pulitzer Prize winner for the New York Times and best-selling author, visited campus to talk about conclusions he has drawn from researching and writing his latest book, “Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution – and How It Can Renew America."