Hot, Flat, and Crowded Post 2

The second part of Hot, Flat, and Crowded is about how we got to this point in our world. He starts by talking about how oil is halting the freedom of the people in eastern countries saying, “That is, the higher the average global crude oil price rises, the more that free speech, free press, free and fair elections… are eroded” (Friedman 96). My interpretation is that the higher the price of oil, the lower the freedom. This may be, but can he back this claim up with facts? As always Friedman comes through with compelling evidence from an source who did not want to be named stating, “When oil was $20 a barrel, Putin had 20 percent of the Russian vote; when it was $100 a barrel he had 100 percent of the Russian vote!” (Friedman 95). This is why we need to get the world off oil. If a single politician can control a country strictly by the price of oil; what is going to happen when we begin to run out of it? What if Putin keeps getting reelected because he continues to raise the price until there is none left? Russia will be left dazed and confused. That is why it is so important for America to be a leader in this search for renewable fuels, which leads to his next talking point the environment.
Friedman makes the argument that we are not doing enough to halt global warming stating,
“There are other reasons we may be underestimating global warming. To begin with, scientists-the good ones- are congenitally afraid of overstating anything. They are punished for overstating and not punished for understating, and this produces caution generally” (Friedman 121).
Congenital, by the way, means having a characteristic as if by nature. The scientists have developed a fear of talking the truth about global warming. It is a shame, but after all people like to hear good things not bad things. To think that a scientist could be fired from his job because he wants to help is a sad thought. Such truths are usually shrugged off and converted to skepticism, which has several stages: first the skeptics tell you that you are wrong and can prove it, second said skeptics admit you are right, but it is not going to have any affect, and third they say that admit that it does matter and it will affect us, but it is too late (Friedman 125). Eventually everyone will realize that global warming is a huge problem that needs dealing with immediately, but I don’t know if we can get the skeptics to believe in time. One thing is for sure, we have a big problem on our hands and everyone is going to need to pitch in to solve it.