The Migration to Renewables Is Often Political, Thus Painfully Slow
Regarding my recent piece The Caribbean: Making Renewables Happen, a childhood friend with whom I’ve recently reconnected Candace Sneberger (of international travel fame) writes: When will be get the USVI (U.S. Virgin Islands) on board with renewable energy? So glad to hear about the successes; keep up the good work, Craig!
Clean energy is coming to all of us, in time. The issue, of course, is how much long-term environmental damage we will have done in the meantime. More to the point, will we still have a civilization here at that point? Answer: no one knows.
I can’t speak to the USVI, but I can say this: In most cases, it’s political.
I didn’t mean to characterize my experiences in Bermuda as successes, btw, though I guess I should have elaborated to make that clear. The top people in Bermuda, while they seemed receptive and were very respectful and kind to me, didn’t budge an inch after I left. Even as recently as a few months ago, Belco, the island’s power utility monopoly has been criticized for dragging its heels.
I wish the world the best of luck here, but success will require throttling corruption and greed, and, as we see all around us, that’s proving to be a Herculean task.
Craig,
Perhaps if you bothered to discover that Bermuda is not actually in the Caribbean, and not lied about local conditions (including BELCO which is not truly a monopoly), you may have been more successful.
Upbraiding ” top people in Bermuda” about “tourists being disgusted by coal dust on their rental cars”, must have either bemused those “top people” or confirmed their reservations about listening to one more ignorant ‘Ugly American’ too lazy to realize Bermuda has no rental cars!
Aren’t you just a little embarrassed by such a faux pas?
Craig, I realize that unlike you, I have the advantage of a considerable research facility built up over many years to draw upon, but didn’t you do any research before your trip to bermuda? Didn’t a lack of hire car ads, or facilities at the airport catch your eye, and make you wonder?
I have many clients in Bermuda, some local, some just for the financial benefits. But before I arrive anywhere in the world to do business, invest or advise, I make damn sure I’m well briefed about local conditions so I can ask intelligent questions and observe with a modicum of accuracy.
Perhaps I’ve been fortunate than you. Perhaps my training a young intelligence officer in the military, taught me not to make assumptions, but observe and learn with an open, objective mind.
maybe if you had spent more time listening, researching and observing when visiting Bermuda, you would have gained a better appreciation of the problems these small nations have to address.
If you did, you wouldn;t be so enthusiastic in praise of nations like Costa Rica which you claim is uses 100% renewable energy (by which you really mean electricity).
If you did a little research, you might discover less than half the country’s households are connected to electricity, the rest using kerosene and wood for fuel!
Maybe it’s this lack of knowledge (rather than American conceit) which fuels your misconception the rest of the world admires America and desires in “American leadership”.
I don’t write these remarks to belittle or demean you in way, but in the hope of reaching the old Craig who existed before he became so obsessed with hating President Trump.
The pre-Trump era Craig, cheerfully acknowledged his errors and could debate objectively and accurately.
As a person living outside the US, but a frequent visitor, it’s my observation (and purely a personal opinion) over the last three years, is the greatest change in America that has occurred as a result of the 2016 election has been among the Never-Trumpers.
From the deterioration in left-wing and liberal media, to the bitter fanaticism of the old progressives, the President’s enemies have become what they once hated.
Narrow minded, lacking honesty and perspective, the “Never_Trumper’s’ have fallen into the trap of believing “The end justifies the Means”.
remeber what MLK said, “when you have to make yourself as mean as your enemy to win, you always come away a lot meaner than that which you once strove against”.
MLK also said, “Be afraid that in celebrating the defeat of your enemy you don’t glance into the mirror and see the monster you have become”.