Response and Summary to the Article “Hot, Flat, and Crowded”

First of all Tomas Friedman is trying to say that giving energy and giving the ability to produce energy independently in Africa would end many problems. With Africa producing energy independently that would end the ressecion and Africa’s poverty, both normal and energy poverty.

Bringing energy to Africa would not end every problem but it would be the first step. Mr. Friedman is saying that none of the problems can be solved in Africa if there isn’t even any power. He’s also saying that not only does Africa have no power, but they also don’t have the ability to continue to produce power even if they were started up.

Mr. Friedman also discuses that Africa has the worst climate to adopt building electricity power plants because it is hot, flat, and crowded. It is hot and there is a hole in the ozone, and the people that contributed the least are suffering the most. While it is hot and there is no access to electricity your ability to adapt to a new climate is dangerously limited.

Because of Africa being mostly flat and still no access to electricity you cannot use cellular phones, the Internet, or computer; which are now the center of global communication, education, collaboration, and innovation. Finally because Africa is extremely crowded and there is no access to electricity you cannot thrive in villages and your only option is to move into an already overcrowded city such as Mumbai or Lagos.

With the global warming it is getting hotter higher up and the people of Africa cannot turn on a fan, because of this mosquitoes can travel higher and carry disease higher. Also there is nearly no electricity other than gasoline and diesel powered generators, which are becoming more and more expensive by the day.

When the gene...

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...them electricity and say “It’s time for you to produce it on your own,” they won’t know how and go right back into poverty. However, if we do nothing the countries of Africa will realize that they are just going to dig deeper into poverty if they do nothing and will eventually take action and begin to produce electricity on their own. Or if they don’t take action and sit around and do nothing, they will dig into permanent poverty and eventually become extinct in a sense due to their lack to do or produce anything, then all the successful countries can divide up the land and we can have a shot at producing electricity in Africa. If we handle the situation with my method, there’s no losing for the already successful countries but a higher chance of the African countries failing. I would say it’s all a matter of opinion; everybody has their own and you can make yours.