I think the whole world should read this book...

Making so much sense to me at the moment. I'm reading "Hot, Flat & Crowded" by Thomas L. Friedman. He's a Pulitzer Prize winner (3 of them) and works with the NY Times. Though this book is directed at Americans, as we're following their way of life (The American Dream yet with more decent beer) I think the book has great relevance to our society here, and everywhere.

http://amzn.com/0312428928

(Hopefully that link works for y'all).

So I'm not even finished but I'd like to share a quite good point from the book in the chapter about 'petropolitics'.

From the chapter "Fill 'er Up With Dictators":

"To be sure, professional economists have long pointed out that an abundance of natural resources can be bad for a country's economy and politics   This phenomenon has been variously diagnosed as "Dutch disease" or the "resource curse." Dutch disease refers to the process of de-industrialization that can come about as a result of a natural resource windfall.  The term was coined in the Netherlands in the early 1960s, after the Dutch discovered huge deposits of natural gas in the North Sea.  What happens in a country with Dutch disease is this: First the value of the currency rises, thanks to the sudden influx of cash from oil, gold, gas, diamonds or some other natural resource discovery.  The strong currency in effect raises the price of the nation's goods to foreign buyers, making the country's manufactured exports very noncompetitive and imports very cheap for its citizens.  The citizens, flush with cash, start buying cheaper imported goods without restraint; the domestic manufacturing sector gets wiped out; and presto, you have deindustrialization."

Sound familiar, Australia?!

Just sayin'.

Talks a lot about the fact that if we can't lead developing nations in the way in which they produce goods and use fossil fuels, because of course they are influenced by, and entitled to, the way in which we live; then we're up shit creek without a paddle. (good ole saying that one)

Look at the pictures that have been coming out of Beijing lately.

Anyways, I have a copy of this book that I'm very open to sharing once I'm done. So let me know if you'd like to read it.

Food for thought. One love.

xxJ