Neither am I a "Green".
I may be about to generalise an entire group of people, but does it not seem that we are incessantly told to use fewer plastic bags, stop using energy, drive less and so on and so forth?
But I want to use energy. I want to use a lot of it. It makes my life better. I absolutely do not want to go around my home unplugging things, making sure they are not on standby, taking worn out bags to the supermarket and taking a crowded, expensive bus, when I can drive. That is not to say that I want to waste energy, just that I do not want to worry about it.
Does that make me a hypocrite? I have been pondering this for a while, and I found that I have never really been one for the "conservationist" attitude. Why should we use less energy?
Our civilisation is based on energy, and our growth as a culture is tied to it. The solution to our energy woes can come partly from being more responsible with our energy, as "the Greens" say, but ultimately we should neither expect to nor encourage regressing in our energy demands.
The point I'm making is that we have a problem, but we should try to find a solution to the problem rather than adapting ourselves to deal with it. People will not give up their high energy consumption because it improves their lives. They will want to travel more, do more, experience more, and so they should! Our lives are too short to worry about saving every scrap of energy (and chastising those who do not do the same).
We, as a race, have a tremendous capability for innovation, imagination and resourcefulness. "What the mind can conceive it can achieve". If we apply ourselves to developing new and better sources of energy, clearing the political roadblocks in their path, and accepting that energy should be ubiquitous and unnoticed, then we will be a large step closer to being free from energy concerns.
I welcome your comments.
2 days ago
4 comments:
There is a difference between making your life better and wasting what you have. Whether it's material things your have in your life or your abilities, when you assume that you have no responsibility to the earth and all that it has given to you, you are showing your naiveté.
I don't always want to brush my teeth. When I'm tired at the end of the day and fall into bed, the last thing I want to do it get back out of bed and brush my teeth. But I do because I know that if I don't, my teeth will rot, people will find me offensive, and my dentist will be able to afford the boat that he has always wanted.
My point is, sometimes our responsibility is not just to ourselves, but to others around us. And you assume that everyone has the same access to all the good things in life. I don't want to have to worry about energy either. But I have no choice, because those who came before me didn't worry about it and now we are having a serious climate crisis. The United States didn't worry about the banking industry for the past ten years and now that are begging for someone to help them because they didn't have enough foresight to realize that we need to be responsible and act accordingly.
I realize that you are trying to say that we should just develop the technology to make the problem go away so you don't have to worry about it. But we are doing just that. All of those environmentalist and all of those "green" people are working everyday to make the problem go away. The question remains, what are you doing about it? How much will you contribute?
You misunderstand me. My point is not that we should continue business as usual and thereby "not worry" about energy. Energy is of supreme importance. If it weren't, if I weren't worried, this blog would not exist.
We have a responsibility not only to the planet but to ourselves, and I believe the naïvety is not acknowledging this important fact. Your example of the United States not worrying about energy is precisely the opposite of what I meant.
Governments, energy companies, investors, NGOs and so on absolutely SHOULD worry about energy. The people should not have to. My neighbours should expect the energy to come from the wall to be cheap, abundant, and coming from clean sources. It is not up to them to spare every last Watt of energy because the suppliers of this energy aren't doing their jobs properly.
I'm not attacking The Green Movement, merely the concept of conservation over efficiency.
Efficiency is a wonderful thing, allowing us to do more with the energy we have and more cheaply, and I actively encourage it. Conservation is different. Conservation implies a scarcity in supply - rationing. What kind of message does that send? It puts the blame, and the responsibility, on the citizen.
Huge amounts of energy are wasted in generation and transmission. The energy sector itself is by far the largest USER of energy of all sectors, and it is there that improvements must be made. It may be true that if everyone switched their TVs off at the mains, then we'd save enough energy to power a city, but ultimately the return on investment is trivial. We could achieve a lot more by focussing our efforts where it counts. We can develop new, clean fuels (absolutely including nuclear power, by the way), smart grid technology and so on and so forth to make this possible.
People will only put up with propaganda for so long before they actively work against it. I know of people who turned every light in their house on for Earth Day because they disliked it in principle, and I'm not sure I disagree with them.
People deserve to use as much energy as they want without having to feel guilty that they, personally, are "harming the planet" by their wasteful ways (sarcasm intended).
Regarding what I will contribute...
In two weeks I have an interview for a Master's degree in Environmental Technology, specialising in Energy Policy here at Imperial College, London. I hope to get it. I then hope to go into energy as a career and give my utmost to dealing with the issues as I see best. I will contribute a perspective which is based upon science and policy, not a remnant of 60s sentimentality.
As ever, I enjoy discussing these things with you.
Hi Micheal - good luck with your Master's degree. I'm currently undertaking my postgraduate degree in Environmental Studies, which does place great emphasis on energy issues.
Energy efficiency is crucial - it is definitely a considerable "untapped" source. I do agree with you - the energy sector as significant consumer of energy, offers countless opportunities to increase energy efficiency.
Regards!
Thanks Anonymous! :) Good luck with your own degree.
Michael
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