Energy Conservation

For some reason, I’m always somewhat surprised to read comments about conservation – they’re numerous, and they’re heartfelt. Frequent commentor Dan Conine writes:

The first alternative energy project that should always be funded is CONSERVATION. THEN whatever we do, won’t cost so much to implement. It is always easier to conserve first, so that we don’t have to make up lost ground for over-consumption in order to survive.

All this is perfectly true, of course. But I’m worried that we, as a race, simply don’t have the stomach for it.

I don’t claim to have a read on the consciousness of those outside the US — but I do think I understand Americans. I’m reminded of Jimmy Carter with his cardigan sweater, addressing a national audience on television in the late 1970s, asking us to turn our thermostats down. Let’s just say that this didn’t resonate.

A bit later he was voted out of office in a humiliating landslide, replaced by Ronald Reagan whose platform was essentially the opposite: America is tough. We don’t need sissy solar panels on the White House. Tear ‘em down. We’re strong, rogue wildcatters who drill for oil of which there is in infinite supply underneath our fruited plains which God Himself blesses. Reagan, you’ll recall, was one of the most popular presidents in history; we would have elected him king if we could have.

I’m afraid that this same mentality still lies at the core of the American psyche. Witness the backlash against the theory of global warming and the support for “drill-baby-drill,” nuclear energy, and the expansion of the war in the Middle East. We’re tough, we drill, and we fight.  We take no crap.  And regardless of how backward and insensitive our policies, God still smiles on us. 

And mostly, witness the fact that Americans do not support austerity in any form. We’ll run up our national debt exponentially, but we will absolutely not (neither Republicans nor Democrats) confront the financial pain that is inexorably headed our way.

Dan: Conservation may sound like a good idea to you and me, but I’m afraid it’s a non-starter on a national scale.