Thomas Friedman, "The Earth Is Full": Tom Is Full of Himself

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "The Earth Is Full" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/opinion/08friedman.html?hp), Thomas Friedman temporarily abandons the Arab Spring, which is fast degenerating into a Middle East ice age, and is back to telling us that we are in denial about the severity of the climate crisis and the needed response. Throughout his column, Friedman cites Paul Gilding, "the veteran Australian environmentalist-entrepreneur," who calls for a world in which its human inhabitants live a fuller life with less "stuff":

"We will realize, he [Gilding] predicts, that the consumer-driven growth model is broken and we have to move to a more happiness-driven growth model, based on people working less and owning less."

Query: Does this mean that Friedman is prepared to share his mansion with a dozen tenement dwellers from Washington, D.C.?

Friedman writes:

"We’re currently caught in two loops: One is that more population growth and more global warming together are pushing up food prices; rising food prices cause political instability in the Middle East, which leads to higher oil prices, which leads to higher food prices, which leads to more instability. At the same time, improved productivity means fewer people are needed in every factory to produce more stuff. So if we want to have more jobs, we need more factories. More factories making more stuff make more global warming, and that is where the two loops meet."

Well, not quite, Tom. For example, if oil prices remain high, shale oil, of which there are world reserves exceeding 3 trillion barrels, will become commercially viable. And guess who owns most of it? More than 60% of world deposits are located in the U.S., primarily in the Green River Formation. Indeed, better answers will need to be found to extract the shale oil without damaging the environment, but what better way to create a vast new industry, offering both hi-tech and low-tech jobs?

Tom tells us that more jobs demand more factories, which make for more global warming. Well, not exactly. Take, for example, the Kindle, which allows its owners to read books, newspapers, magazines and blogs without cutting down trees for paper.

Tom also tells us:

"While in Yemen last year, I saw a tanker truck delivering water in the capital, Sana. Why? Because Sana could be the first big city in the world to run out of water, within a decade."

Indeed, Yemen could run out of potable water within a decade unless it purchases several Israeli desalination plants, which will prevent this from happening. Yes, I know -- Yemen will have a problem buying anything from Israel, but at least in my view, Middle East cooperation in managing water resources might hold the key to peace between Arabs and Israelis (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2011/05/to-king-abdullah-of-saudi-arabia-lets.html).

Don't misunderstand me: The earth is overcrowded, and population control is demanded in order to promote economic and political stability. However, Friedman fails to observe that larger families are at the expense of education and nurturing for the world's children. As trite as it may sound, love is the key to many of our ills. We can overcome technological and economic problems, but there is never enough love to go around.