One down and One to go!

In my attempt to finish both books by the end of November..."Where have all the leaders gone? by Lee Iacocca, bit the dust late last week. I have since continued to read, underline, and dissect "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" by Thomas L. Friedman.

I WISH "HOT, FLAT, AND CROWDED" WAS REQUIRED READING FOR EVERYONE!!!

It documents and discusses many historical, present, and future issues impacting humans as our world continues to get hot, flat, and crowded.

Hot = Climate change

Flat = Access, both material and informative

Crowded = Population growth (6.8Billion presently!)

The purpose of todays blog is to simply share the following excerpt I just read from "Hot, Flat, and Crowded!"

"The Deputy minister of China's State Environmental Protection Agency, Pan Yue, said in a famously candid interview with Der Spiegel (March 7, 2005)

Many factors are coming together here: Our raw materials are scarce, we don't have enough land, and our population is constantly growing. Currently, there are 1.3 billion people living in China, that's twice as many as 50 years ago. In 2020, there will be 1.5 billion people in China. Cities are growing but desert areas are expanding at the same time; habitable and usable land has been halved over the past 50 years...The environment can no longer keep pace. Acid rain is falling on one third of the Chinese territory, half of the water in our seven largest rivers is completely useless, while one fourth of our citizens do not have access to clean drinking water. One third of the urban population is breathing polluted air, and less then 20 percent of the trash in the cities is treated and processed in an environmentally sustainable manner. Finally, five of the ten most polluted cities worldwide are in China...Because air and water are polluted, we are losing between 8 and 15 percent of our gross domestic product. And that doesn't include the cost for health. Then there's the human suffering: In Beijing alone, 70 to 80 percent of all deadly cancer cases are related to the environment. Lung cancer has emerged as the No. 1 cause of death."

Ignoring these issue will only delay the development of possible solutions. Lets take an active roll in supporting a more sustainable global development! Lets think about what type of planet we want our future generations to inherit! What good is money if we destroy our home to get it? Side note, reading is great, eh:-)

Would love to hear your thoughts. Make it a great day world! I want an O! haha sending love, Suchie