Posts Tagged by Dan Conine
Energy Policy — Where's the Solution?
| January 31, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Politics |
We see a great deal of social criticism, lambasting us Americans for being fat, lazy super-consumers. In that vein, frequent commenter Dan Conine writes:
Most of the electricity people get (including myself) isn’t necessary. Most of the activities we perform are useless to the future and only serve our entertainment … and our pollution of the world.
I don’t dispute that. But where’s the solution here? Change hundreds of millions of people’s way of thinking about their responsibilities and their overall lifestyle choices? Sounds like a challenge – getting through to a nation of people who are busy driving their SUVs out to Walmart to stock up on Budweiser and guacamole for the Super Bowl.
There is no doubt to you, me, and most other 2GreenEnergy readers that Americans’ indolent lifestyle cannot sustain itself. I think we’ve already proven that with our child cancer rates, financial bailouts, ceaseless wars, obesity, school test scores, etc. And if you want to see some real social chaos, wait until you see what happens when the world (especially the US with its sense of entitlement) comes face-to-face with the impact of peal oil in the not-too-distant future.
But again, I ask: Where’s the solution? I like to think of myself as a man of action. I like to solve problems. So when I look at this energy problem and all its implications in public health, national security, global climate change, empowering evil, and so forth, I look for a big, broad solution – and that’s renewable energy.
All I’m asking is that *we the people* put pressure on our elected officials. Force them to create legislation that levels of playing field on which renewables compete against fossil fuels. As I’m fond of saying, take away the subsidies and get everyone to pay to true and full costs of the energy we produce and consume – and see how long coal and oil last as industries. They’ll be gone in an afternoon.
In any case, we either make a lot of noise and create a difference in the trajectory of energy-related policy, or we’ll get exactly what will have so richly deserved.
Related posts:
Renewables and the US Government
| January 30, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Politics |
In response to my rant on a few recent Supreme Court decisions, frequent commenter Dan Conine writes:
“… The government we have is the government we deserve. Though you are correct per se from your point of view, I disagree with both counts to some extent. First, the Supreme Court’s job is to interpret the legality of laws written by Congress, etc.. It is now up to Congress to right the wrong of 100 plus years of corporate personhood. Now that an impotent attempt at campaign finance has been shot down, Congress should look deeper into who the constitution is written to protect: individuals from bullies/mobs. They won’t, though, as long as we keep giving more money to corporations every day than we keep for ourselves (savings) or give to the constitutional power (taxes).”
You always amaze me. You’re 100% right that Congress could do something about this, but won’t — and for the exact reasons you’ve named. That is why this is such a terrible conundrum — and the reason that I blog; without a grassroots effort to call attention to our broken poltical processes, we’re doomed.
Dan continues:
Second: The dependence of renewable energy’s future upon federal government intervention shows that renewable energy proponents are not much different than the corporate power proponents: both are trying to make profits through coercion of the government Gun.
“We will be ready for renewable energy when people stop using so much nonrenewable energy. Not before. Until then, local control of rights-of-way is the only way to counteract corporate control of rights-of-way because the corporations own the federal government. When you advocate for federal decisions over local decisions, you are advocating for the biggest corporation to decide your future. You might as well just go to Little Rock and ask Wal-Mart to start selling power grids.”
Here I’m not so sure.
First, I’m not asking Congress to help renewables — only to level the playing field. Remove the subsidies, force everyone to pay the full price of the power they’re producing and consuming, and see what happens. We’ll have renewable energy in about 10 minutes. Btw, you often mention that you’d like to see less consumption of power overall; this action will achieve that goal in a big way.
Secondly, I point out a matter of political philosophy. Though I felt different about this as a younger man, I’m currently convinced that we need to impute some moral goodness to government — and make sure that goodness happens. Without it, we’re really dead — worse than dead, actually; we have a dystopia along the lines of 1984 or Brave New World. But you’re certainly right in what you said above: we get the government we deserve.
