Lost an Hour, Maybe More

I had decided to start reading more than just the daily newspaper and work related materials and came upon this book - Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution- and How it Can Renew America. This book is so thought provoking, informative, Scary! The main focus of the book is climate change, energy poverty, petrodictatorship, and biodiversity loss. If watching An Inconvenient Truth made you stop and think, then reading this book will make you think harder!

CO2 emissions are the tip of the iceberg and more complex than vehicle exhaust and coal burning power plants. For example, as the planet warms plant material in previously frozen permafrost begins to decay releasing copious amounts of CO2. Cows due to their digestive system pass methane gas, another green house gas. Even smoking a cigarette contributes to climate change!

The author prefers the term Climate Change as opposed to global warming since as the planet warms, oceans warm causing jet stream patterns that drive the weather to change and therefor the climate of Earth is impacted.

Many are concerned about the deforestation of the rain forest and the author drives the point home in discussing Indonesia. "Though covering only 1.3% of earth's land surface, Indonesia's forest represent 10% of all the world's tropical forest cover and are home to 20% of all the world's species of flora and fauna, 17% of the world's bird species, and more than 25% of the world's fish species. Just 10 hectares in the Indonesian island of Borneo contains more different tree species than are in all of North America-" The author points out a dubious fact, "...Indonesia had been entered into Guinness World Records for having the fastest rate of deforestation in the world."

I urge you to visit your library or bookstore, read this book, and make changes in your life. We may have lost an hour this weekend, but humanity may loose so much more!