Douglas Purdy

I just completed Hot, Flat, and Crowded.

I previously claimed that Warfighting was the best book that I read all year.

That is still true, but Hot, Flat and Crowded is the most important book that I have read in many, many years.

I am prone to hyperbole, but I am quite serious about this.

I have watched any number of documentaries and read countless magazine articles about climate change and energy policy, but this is the first time that I have really internalized the magnitude of the problem that we face.

More to the point, this is the first time that I have felt compelled, morally compelled, to do something about it.

I am not talking about buying carbon offsets (which I have considered in the past) or some other form of personal “greening”, but actually getting involved in changing policy and attitudes.

It turns out that all my “greening” isn’t going to amount to anything on the planetary scale (environmentally or politically).

I am doing a ton of research right now to get a handle on this issue and see what leverage is there.

One thing that I will admit, I am excited by the problem and I think there is HUGE financial opportunity here.

This is one of the reasons that I loved Hot, Flat and Crowded; it embraces the market as a force that can bring this change about.

The conclusion that I have reached thus far is that we will not find a solution to this problem with the current cost structures we have in place.

We are not pricing in the true cost of energy.

Friedman quotes Jad Mouawad (article here) as the source for this comparison, which I will update with today’s prices:

• 1 barrel of oil = 42 gallons
• price of a barrel of oil today = ~$45.00
• price per gallon of oil today = ~$1.08
• price for a gallon of (non-organic) milk = $2.58

There is something wrong with the world when a gallon of crude oil is cheaper than a gallon of milk.

I’ll close with the two best quotes in the book:

If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.

That was Henry Ford.

Revolution is not a dinner party, not an essay, nor a painting, nor a piece of embroidery; it cannot be advanced softly, gradually, carefully, considerately, respectfully, politely, plainly and modestly.

That was Mao.