The Environmental Movement: Too Conciliatory?
One of the more radical civil rights leaders of the 1960s was not at all happy with the progress that African Americans were making at the time, with their sit-ins to force “white people only” diners to allow blacks to enter as well. In an impassioned speech he fairly screamed, “I do not consider an integrated cup of coffee adequate compensation for the 350 years during which whites enslaved blacks and used our people’s labor, under the lash, to build the wealthiest nation in the history of mankind.”
Clearly there is a parallel here to the environmental movement of the 21st Century. Now, with perfect civility, we are asking companies like Volkswagen and ExxonMobil to begin to behave like good corporate citizens. “Please make better choices,” we plead, as if trying to build ethical character in our children as they struggle to learn right from wrong.
Maybe there’s just too much pacifism here; perhaps there is insufficient outrage. Maybe, in our present condition, we simply don’t have adequate time to let nature take its course and see if these organizations undergo the spontaneous generation of moral decency, as our Earth’s ice continues to melt and our farmlands turn to deserts.
Craig,
I have to agree with you. In the presidential debates, climate change and the need for non CO2-emitting power sources are rarely covered. Probably until climate change begins to cause serious pain it will not get the attention that it should be getting. When New Your City and Los Angeles have to deal with a 10 foot rise in sea level then action will be taken.
Even if we took the maximum possible amount of action now, it would already be too late to eliminate the consequences of climate change. We can probably reduce climate change to a significant degree but we will still have consequences to deal with.
Our current refugee problem indicates how difficult it is for our political systems to deal adequately with refugees. Climate change is certain to result in a refugee problem which is far greater than what we are experiencing now. In theory I think that we could adequately and fairly deal with the problem but whether we actually will is another matter. Civilization as we know it could be threatened.
Craig,
Don’t fall into the mistake of believing the extremist mantra “the end justifies the means”.
That’s been the catch cry of every would be demagogue peddling some sanctimonious ideology through out history. Adherence to that philosophy never ends well, and it take a great deal of misery and human life to suppress.
Would be messiahs always claim to act in the ” name of the people” ! In truth they act for no one but themselves and a handful of deluded followers. (Worse still, they actually despise the very people they aspire to lead).
Martin Luther King, William Wilberforce and Nelson Mandela were truly inspirational leaders. These men patiently brought about lasting change and inspiration for millions by turning enemies into sympathizers. Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, Yippies, Weathermen, Japanese Red Army, Baader-Mienhof, Symbionese Liberation Army, achieved nothing but a descent into drugs, crime and murderous chaos.
No system comprising of human beings will always behave perfectly. All humans are capable of error and make mistakes. You may be right and other wrong, but it’s only your right to persuade, not coerce, others to see things your way.
Fanatical advocacy, backed by dubious alarmist claims, harms the credibility of the environmental movement with the general populace. The actions of “non-passive” extremists, only serves to further alienate already skeptical electorates.
Marcopolo,
Ends and means arguments have been around for a long time. Whether the ends justify the means depends on what the means are and what the ends are.
You don’t have to worry about that. I’m a man of peace. Obviously, organizations like Greenpeace take a more aggressive stance.
In its earlier days I strongly supported Greenpeace. I no longer do and I think that its tactics tend to be counterproductive. On the other hand, passivity is not productive. There can be legitimate differences of opinion regarding the proper balance.
“Violence is the last recourse of the incompetent”. Leading by example, putting your money where your mouth is while speaking out for what you are demonstrating that you believe in is the only way that, in the long run, real change can be encouraged.
When I can, I talk to kid, preteens and teens, not about what the problems are – they already know that – but about what they can do in their lives. My generation (boomers) is a lost cause – too rich, too wasteful, too full of the conceit that Earth is here for our “use”.
Our kids know in the abstract about the issues, but they’re too busy with careers, buying homes, raising kids.
I think the biggest problem is to teach the young that there’s no need to be bitter because their parent’s and grandparent’s lives were so much “better” (for which read “wasteful”). And that they can, by being much “greener” mock us gently from the moral high ground.
Young people love it when they’re “smarter” than their elders – and in this case I’m happy for them to be so!
Thanks, Roger. I can always count on you for a thoughtful and beautiful response; you certainly didn’t disappoint me here. 🙂
Btw, as I responded elsewhere, I’m not advocating violence. Yet I believe strongly in the words of Frederick Douglass, whom I quote here: http://www.2greenenergy.com/2016/02/01/the-legacy-of-frederick-douglass/:
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. People might not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get. Without a struggle, there can be no progress. It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.
Amen Roger. Education is the best solution and it is always easier to teach the young than us old geezers.
Frederick Douglass used education to sway public opinion and in that he was very effective. He gave speeches and printed articles. Probably he greatly increased awareness of the evils of slavery.
I really appreciate your raising this question, and the discussion that follows. It’s an important one, not that we’ll ever answer it definitively, but just asking leads us to see things differently. I lean towards the approach advocated by Bucky Fuller when he said, “You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
Hi, Julie. Thanks for reminding me of this wonderful insight; I had forgotten it.
And yes, that’s precisely what I perceive we’re doing. With each passing day the world is moving in the right direction, as a) the population is increasing dominated by young people and their more progressive thinking, b) the overall zeitgeist of our civilization turns toward “green” in all areas, e.g., less consumption of red meat, c) the economics of renewables continues to improve, etc.
Thanks again for your most uplifting comment.
Thanks Craig for another thought provoking article.
While I appreciate the many cautionary points of view here, I am reminded that the US was founded in the violence of war. In the letters of one of the wise “founding fathers” we find the statement that America should have a revolution or a war every 20 years. http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Thomas.Jefferson.Quote.EFEC But I don’t think that Thomas Jefferson envisioned the the more recent kind of undeclared and sanitized proxi-war that primarily involves and benefits military and defense contractors.
A revolution by definition is a rapid change. The challenge for the wise leaders in recent efforts was to make a rapid change for civil liberties and defense contractors without disturbing the economic lifeblood of corporations. Were we infamously told to “continue shopping” as the public response to the events of 9/11/01 while “leaders” stripped civil liberties and pursued an unrelated war of aggression? http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepresidentandcabinet/a/did-bush-say-go-shopping-after-911.htm
It is from the same roots that a war of environmental aggression has been waged. We are told that we “need” to do these “unfortunate” environmental rapes to ensure our standard of living and economic well being. This thinking is so firmly entrenched in our collective psyche that even well meaning people are now repeating what we “must” do to ensure energy supplies and what we unfortunately “cannot” do. They are striving for some simple evolution to a more Utopian future. In a revolution all values and assumptions are on the table. In a revolution it is much harder for fear to limit eventual goals. A revolution shares with rage a kind of focus that eliminates distractions. It allows people to overcome their differences and band together when there are forces trying to isolate and marginalize factions.
I think one of the chief barriers against coordinated action here is a feeling of powerlessness – “What can one person do?” – a feeling that is inculcated and encouraged in all too many ways. Such a feeling is of course of advantage to the powerful. A population who, individually, feels itself incapable of action is unlikely to disturb the plans laid.
With similar effects, other barriers are the elevated and exacerbated levels of division and of alienation people feel. By a myriad of voices amplified in the consolidated media, splits are wedged and held open on a variety of issues and between demographics both natural and created. People feel alone and unloved, and antidepressants are distributed like candy.
These are the phenomena we must overcome to make the meaningful and lasting changes necessary to defend and preserve the biosphere.
We are not powerless. We are not alone. We are not unloved. We must now, as expressed in the words of Teddy Roosevelt, do what we can, with what we have, where we are – and I might add, with who we can.
Time is short, and the stakes could not be higher, but perhaps the game is not yet over.
I love this one, because you’re so correct. We have FAR greater capacity to change the world than we realize. Here are a few posts I’ve written on that exact subject: http://www.2greenenergy.com/?s=beecher&submit=Go
Craig, any chance you can paste in that comic strip I sent the other day? It seems appropriate.
Here it is.
Thanks – let’s keep on keepin’ on… 🙂
I appreciate that. I DO need to be more positive. After all, this battle for environmental sustainability is one that the good guys are actually winning. The bad actors, e.g., the Koch Brothers, have worse PR that the neo-Nazis and the KKK.
Craig,
Living a lifestyle in accordance with altruistic convictions can be very admirable and personally satisfying.
The problem begins when someone decides others should share their lifestyle convictions. This in itself is not a problem, even when that person begins to evangelize and advocate for their lifestyle choices to be adopted by more adherents.
Our Western civilization is based apon accommodating active campaigning and peaceful protest, as an essential part of political and social dynamics.
But where it becomes dangerous, is the stage where the evangelist starts to demand that dissenters be coerced into submission. Fanaticism is the dark side of enthusiasm. Fanatics must identify a demon to exorcised, some individual or group to vilify and dehumanize. The evangelist must produce an enemy, against whom all deeds, no matter how extreme, are justified by those involved in the holy crusade.
Sadly, by this stage the original altruism has long disappeared, replaced by a fanatical desire to see the new religion (ideology) triumphant. Along the way, tolerance, respect for others, commonsense, curiosity and even rational thought, is replaced by adherence to a self-righteous, sanctimonious doctrine.
Thus I feel sad when I hear you revile David and Charles Koch, (not just for their beliefs, but as people), former ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond etc. These folk may not share your beliefs , they may even be in error, but they are still entitled to their beliefs, and must be free to express those beliefs, without being subject to rabid vilification.
I’m not an adherent of Creationism, however I respect the right of those who wish to believe, as long as they respect my right to disagree.
If you wish to eat less red meat, consume less, knit your own yogurt etc, that’s great and I respect your right to do so. If you want to enthusiastically get others to adopt your lifestyle by persuasive means, then in the words of John Lennon ” count me in” but if you want support for people with minds that hate, “count me out ! “.
Malcolm X and other hate mongers, including fanatical environmentalists, demanding witch-hunts and ” Heresy trails” are not part of any “solution”, the are pare part of the problem.
New and superior technology, will be produced, commercialized and adopted based upon competitive merits and practical compatibility.
Disruptive, impractical technology that must be constantly supported by government intervention and taxpayer support will be doomed, as competition from other, more dynamic, economies proves irresistible.
Laisse fare ?sp? The role of government comes to play in this balance between extreme activism and apathy. We can be polite in our advocacy but when those of another persuasion try to use a force multiplier of taxation to ram their philosophy through to the masses… Laid back people get off of dead center and the political process brings out the worst in us. It is still better than a totalitarian state where things get done quickly but human rights are trampled. Jmo.
“Fanaticism is the dark side of enthusiasm.” ??? I rather doubt there is truth in this or we would be weary of every child anxious for the holiday, a trip, or an ice cream as a potential fanatic. Enthusiasm is probably one of the most endearing gifts of children, and it is no less a gift when we can feel its inspiration in our adult lives. But there are some dullards that hate both children and adults for their enthusiasm. The “Grinch”s of our modern world can be no less fanatical in absence of any enthusiasm. They can attempt to obliterate every smile and happy moment as they spread a philosophy or fear and doom. Rather than strive to challenge the unknown such fanatical fear mongers attempt to pull others to their level of doubt, fear and insecurity.
It should be a crime to destroy the enthusiasm of children and no less an ignominious occupation when attacking adults.
@ Breath on the Wind
” OMG, won’t anyone save the children !”
As anyone who has every raised children will tell you, Kids have all kinds of enthusiasms. Some deserve encouragement while others must be immediately discouraged !
All human behavior is subjective depending on circumstance. What is admirable enthusiasm in one person and circumstance, can become fanaticism different circumstances.
Fanaticism begins when a doctrine or ideology, is accepted blindly and the adherent acts upon that doctrine in substitution for rational thought.
Sadly, children are often used by Demagogues because they are easily manipulated and indoctrinated.
Marco, I failed to find any source for your quote. But perhaps you were attempting a sarcastic paraphrasing of my comment. If you have missed my point this may also explain the slight inconsistency in your comments.
Initially you seemed to want to describe fanaticism as some extreme form of enthusiasm. More recently you have offered another definition: “Fanaticism begins when a doctrine or ideology, is accepted blindly…” I was intrigued so I checked the definitions and now see in what way you can blend these words. A Fanatic might, as a denotative definition, be said to act with enthusiasm. But through the example of children we can see that not every instance of enthusiasm is the beginning of fanaticism. Frankly because fanaticism has pejorative connotation and enthusiasm has a positive connotation it would seem somewhat twisted to combine these words in this way. This is a subtle usage difference that might trip up someone who is using English as a second language.
“As anyone … Kids have all kinds of enthusiasms.” I am not sure that “enthusiasms” is a word. Kids may pursue many different goals with enthusiasm. Certainly guidance on appropriate goals might be required due to an undeveloped capacity for reason, but are you seriously advocating curbing enthusiasm just because you don’t want someone to be happy separate from any objects? I am sure there are people with such a cold heart but I would not assume it.
You also refer to fanaticism as a “…substitution for rational thought,” which is why we ascribe fanaticism to adults and why we tend to excuse children for a sometimes absence of reason. Recent studies in fact show that brain development continues until about the age of 25 with areas of judgement being some of the last to develop. http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/02/18/at-what-age-is-the-brain-fully-developed/ This would help to explain why, “children … are easily manipulated and indoctrinated.” It is not because they are enthusiastic but because of an imperfect or unused cognitive ability. When adults suffer the same fate and have the ability, it may be because of a lack of knowledge (rhetoric,) or understanding of logic.
Enthusiasm is not an enemy of reason. It can be a driving force of genius. Like any force (fire) it can have good and bad results depending upon how it is used. Many would rather not sit in a cold room for fear of lighting a fire.
@ Breath on the Wind
Well, I suppose i should thank you for your reply.
However, what it is that you are trying to convey, seems to get a little lost with your earnest quest for a pedantic love of grammar.( one even say is one of your enthusiasms 🙂
[ Oxford Dictionary quote; “the three enthusiasms of his life were politics, religion, and books” ]
So yeah, I guess enthusiasm is a word ( a noun) ok ?
I’m not sure that I quoted anyone, so your quest to discover a source might be futile. (although it’s always possible I heard the phrase somewhere).
The point of my example was to highlight the process by which an enthusiasm, even a beneficial enthusiasm, can be transformed into obsessive, fanatical behavior.
Nor did I claim simply being enthusiastic, would automatically lead to fanaticism. I like enthusiastic people, but like many aspects of human behavior, when taken to excess, enthusiasms can become transformed into very negative passions.
… And with that last comment I have definitely lost my enthusiasm for this discussion !:)
Excellent work, Craig, as usual. Forward together.
We are only powerless if we choose to be. 10 years ago, PV was $6.50/watt. I put 1.5kw on the roof and dropped the grid. That was $9,000 – plus inverter and batteries (another $3000?)
10 years later, PV is about $1/watt – my $9,000 investment is now $1500 – and I couldn’t be happier! I haven’t paid for electricity in 10 years.
If I had bought panels at the current price, the system would cost $4500. Over 10 years, that’s $450/year. Divide by 12 and I’ve powered my house for $37.50/month (?)
Plus the inverter and the panels are still good. Eventually the inverter will die, but the panels should be good forever.
I don’t know anyone who spends less than $37.50/month for electricity. Plus, I get to mock my neighbours when their power goes out! (I love the sound of generators after a storm…) (not really – they’re pretty environmentally ugly)
so I’m in favour of individual action – don’t wait for “them” to do it. I like the idea that 1 person in each neighbourhood could do what I’ve done and lead others. Why not?
Roger we can applaud your individual initiative and insight. It has always been possible in the US for mavericks to lead the way by example.
But today there are also people who may be less informed, have less disposable income than you have enjoyed or may live in apartments rather than their own home. Personal choice tends to play a larger roll when there is more personal power. This could be the power of knowledge, income, wealth or even a sense of personal awareness.
But without some place to start how is it possible to make the kind of investment necessary. There is an adage that it “takes money to make money.” I am sure we could say the same about saving money.
Global issues also have to consider the level of environmental impotence. Individually we cannot change the political environment, the economic environment, unless you also control a tremendous power desired by others: wealth. Those also concerned with the natural environment have to find some power with which to counter concentrated wealth. That has often been the power of collective action.
Certainly we need people who can individually achieve a high level of success. But those individuals then represent a social disease when their successful efforts limit social progress in favor of the unlimited personal wealth we call greed.
I won’t debate your point about “personal power” but I keep returning to Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
the ERA in the US didn’t happen because all of a sudden everyone woke up and said, “Ok so lets fix this today”. It happened because Rosa Parks was tired from working hard, and a couple of people decided to support her. Others joined in and it became a “thing”. (I feel like I’m channeling the “Alice’s Restaurant massacree”..)
those who think it’s important need to talk to their neighbours, and brag about the oil they DIDN’T buy.
If you can’t afford it, maybe a friend or neighbour will loan you the money until the savings pay it back.
I think my basic point can be summarized in the saying, “Whether you believe you can, or you can’t – you’re right”
Attitude is everything.
Roger, Certainly attitude, like a seed, is an essential beginning, but there are plenty of stories that tell us what happens to seeds in the environment: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+13%3A1-58&version=ESV not all get a chance to thrive. Without water, the right minerals, sunlight that seed is not going to grow into a plant.
But instead look at the idea that “attitude is everything” from the negative perspective. What if someone tries and fails. If attitude is everything then it is only a failure of will. There is no need for a social net, no need for loans, no need for retirement benefits, no need for pollution controls, no need for a clean environment because attitude is everything and the environment plays no part??
The idea that “attitude is everything” quickly leads to a total lack of concern for anyone else. It becomes an excuse for a somewhat selfish and isolated attitude. Somehow I don’t think you are advocating these implications.
I am sure that there were many “Rosa Parks” for over 200 years. Some may have been “rewarded” a rope or a lash. Were all of those previous cases only suffering a failure of convictions, an insufficient attitude?
Rosa Parks may have had a conviction. She may have had sufficient wisdom to foresee a possible future, but without a minimally accepting environment that provided power to the idea, that seed would not have grown.
The challenge often is to have an idea and then work to create the environment in which the idea will thrive. Creating a sympathetic attitude to the environment is a challenge that has been worked on by many individuals for at least 150 years. No doubt each one had an “attitude,” but the environment of public opinion is not yet right. Sometimes listening and patience is part of that challenge. At other times, a revolutionary attitude may be required.
FRank – there was a time I could have done just that calculation, so I know the formula is out there somewhere.
However (as you allowed for at the end of your comment) I didn’t do it to “make money” – I did it because I could, because reducing my carbon footprint was important to me, and because “talking the talk” is important too.
I’m not advocating that everyone does what I do – I go out in public, trying to “sell” what I think is a good idea, and making my “knowledge” available to those who are interested. I have a background in sales and education – I try to use them to partially offset the messages coming from the utilities, to “empower” (don’t really like that word) them, to help them see that a guy like me who bashes his thumb every time he tried to use a hammer can make a system work to my advantage. Ergo, if I can, they can!
(Apologies if these are in the wrong order…)
Breath in the Wind:
You’re right – there are times when even the best efforts fail, but as a generalization i think it works. It’s not about blaming those for whom it did not work, it’s about encouraging those who would never try to make the effort, to take the risk.
It’s also about helping those with a negative or selfish approach to the world/life to risk making a change. I really like Gandhi’s “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Anyone looking at me, hearing me talk about my off-gridedness, or wandering around my house on a tour is going to be monumentally unimpressed.
They will quickly realize that all I did was try it on a cheap, small scale and, when I saw it was working, added to it.
Anyone with a yard (including apt. dwellers with grass) knows what happens if you leave the hose full of water lying in the sun. So, instead of letting that water kill the grass, you put the hose in a kid pool until it runs colder, and the kids have fun in warm water.
The point is that the lesson is learned about how easy it is to get some heat out of the sun.
In August (when they’re on sale) buy 200ft (or more) of black garden hose. Leave it in coils in the sun – use that heated water to wash the car (assuming you have a car and that you think it’s important to wash it…)
Or take the hose, full of hot water, and put the end in the tub of the clothes washer. Warm water free for the t-shirts.
But when i say “attitude is everything”, I’m thinking specifically of the attitude summarized by “Yes I (We) can!” (with apologies…)
Most of us would never try to build a bookcase – yet, given a bunch of books in boxes, with minimal effort and material, the books could soon be on shelves. What are shelves with books on them? A bookcase!
And I can’t pretend that these were all my own ideas – but we all have lots of smart practical people in our neighbourhood.
My worst times are when I sit at home whining about the things I “can’t do”. My best times are when I “try”, and look for and accept help from others.
Wonderful. My friend and frequent commenter Cameron Atwood took a hike last weekend (http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/carpinteria-state-beach-carpinteria) and we talked about what a cool guy you are.
Roger, there is no need for apologies as no difficulty was intended or perceived.
Optimism does seem to be a fundamental advantage when striving to overcome challenges. Its benefit may have more to do with overcoming internal resistance than challenges from the world around us. Optimism helps us to overcome a sense of overwhelming futility. It allows us to look for solutions when there are none in sight. When applied to these internal struggles optimism helps to “feel good” about what we do and may be somewhat essential. But it is not a plan, it is not a schedule, it is not facts, it is not analysis these can also be essential. It can be a form of power but it is not the guiding conduit.
But I have been also been pondering why I seem to be arguing both sides of a similar issue. In this same comments section I have taken some issue with Marcopolo’s concern that enthusiasm is a seed form of fanaticism. Enthusiasm and optimism seem to be verbal cousins. So please understand that my issue is not with either of these things, or both, but the implications and what may follow or needs to follow.
I have been fortunate to travel a little. If anything has come from that it is some small indication of how parochial we tend to be. It is so very easy for us to assume that because we live in a suburban house everyone does. And we may not even do this on a conscious level but our preferences and choices follow our own conditions. To make our own decisions based upon our own lives is fine. But as soon as we get out of a marketplace of ideas and assume positions of power, as a legislator, executive or even an educator any personal assumptions should be examined far more carefully. Unfortunately, we too often have little to draw on outside of our experience for that examination. Schooling, reading, travel and above all listening have traditionally been aids to our true education.
I feel somewhat obligated to Craig to bring this back to the original post. Integration is a patch on the problem of a myopic perspective in the area of segregation. Sometimes we are right to demand we dig deeper. But digging deeper in race relations is itself an overly narrow view when the problem is our sense of separation. It is important to have an optimistic view, to have a warm feeling in our hearts as we scream and yell at those who would destroy our environment for their own selfish interests. But it should be an effort to get them to wake up rather than destroy them.
It would be good to have a thorough cost analysis, either discounted cash flow or internal rate of return, that would take everything into account. That would include cost of maintenance, repairs, and salvage value at the end of the useful life of the equipment. Very few people can to that sort of analyses; it would generally require an accountant. But without such an analysis it is impossible to know whether such an investment makes economic sense, although probably there are other considerations.
“Never for the sake of peace and quiet deny your convictions.” – UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold
Those of us with convictions should certainly live them and share our reasons for doing what we do.
In my teaching about green building and our ability to improve the built environment to improve our effects on the environment I find that people are empowered to know that there is something that they can do besides buy a hybrid car or install solar panels. The IPCC spent one whole day of the 14 at COP21 talking about the importance of improving building efficiency as our most potent tool to immediately impact climate change. The energy we do not use does not pollute at all.
Because of the constant improvement of appliance, vehicle and building efficiency as well as improved efficiency in the manufacturing sector our energy use is declining. I read yesterday that US Emissions have Declined to 1995 Levels.http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26544?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feb%2012%202016&utm_term=Enewsletter
“A building is not just a place to be but a way to be.” – Frank Lloyd Wright
A building is not just a collection of walls roofs windows doors and systems. We must get our designers to truly understand integrated design and bio mimicry so that our homes and places of work become warm healthful places in which we feel embraced and nurtured.
“I’m not trying to imitate nature; I’m trying to find the principles she’s using.”
R. Buckminster Fuller, 1972
“We must not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time“ T.S. Elliot
“There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening we shall hear the right word… Place yourself in the middle o the stream of power and wisdom which flows into your life. Then without effort, you are impelled to truth and to perfect contentment.” Ralph Waldo Emerson.
“We can have democracy, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.” – L. Brandeis
We must be conscious of the decisions we make about our energy sources and realize the effects that those decisions have on the world around us. Making your own energy is an expression of your own responsibility. Wasting as little energy as possible is just a good conservative value.
“Common sense is not so common.” – Voltaire
The move to new energy production being mostly small and local is one that is just taking hold but the effects may well change the whole energy equation more than the current oil and gas glut. If you could buy natural gas and choose your supplier would you choose big gas or your local farmers coop?
Lao Tzu wrote, “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”
We must learn to patiently live in harmony and all will come to pass as it should. We may yet become a civilized people but the jury is still out.
When I was doing research for the first talk on green building that I wrote I was amazed to see the graph of our nations energy use then looked at a graph of our nations economic growth. Drops in energy use caused by rising prices lead to economic decline while drops in energy use through conservation lead to sustained economic growth.
If you are serious about making a dent in your emissions then it is time to get an energy audit of your buildings and act on the recommendations!
Thank you Bruce, I couldn’t agree more.
I designed this house to run on about 25% of the energy of a conventional house year round. I didn’t quite make it but the last time I looked we were under 30%. Part of it is that the price of “conventional” energy has risen (until people started switching in serious numbers, then the price fell.
It’s -21c out at 1000 hrs. I just lit today’s first fire in the masonry wood heater. Yes, I am burning some natural gas to keep the slab warm, but the wood heater also heats water for that.
Before I built this house, I lived on the same lot in a 1921 frame cottage. I spent all my time in the summer nailing 2x4s to the existing 2×4 walls, then bringing home bags of R20 as I could afford them. I cut the bags open and taped them together to be the vapour barrier. Little “saran wrap” covers on the insides of the windows (heat shrink?) was it for a year but the difference between that and just the single pane window was amazing.
None of that cost much. None of it asked technical skills. What it needed was information/education and encouragement. That’s why I talk to anyone who will listen in a positive, up-beat, non-doom-ridden voice. Like, “I’m really messing with the oil company – haha. You should do it too. I’ll help!”
Ok, they know my education is in music, not useful stuff, but “if I can do it…”.
(I love talking to assemblies of high schools students – I have this subversive idea that they really like! “make a deal with your family that you’ll “do” (or supervise or …) the improvements – in both physical plant and in behaviour – and we’ll compare this year with last. What-ever the savings are, you get half!
Or put the savings to a toy or vacation (or better windows or…)
But if the kids see they’re getting something desirable out of it, no-one has more perseverance or enthusiasm!