Energy Efficiency, Conservation, and Renewables — Good Ideas Regardless of How They're Received
It’s the birthday of journalist and activist Jonathan Kozol, a teacher in Boston, who wrote largely on his experiences with school segregation and institutionalized racism. I had an extremely progressive English teacher my junior year in high school who guided us through a few of Kozol’s essays; I recall how impressed I was with the power of his writing, and I note, looking back, how profoundly influential he’s been over the past half century.
More to the point, Kozol said, “Pick battles large enough to matter, small enough to win.” That’s food for thought, to be sure, as we go about our work trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a society largely indifferent – in some cases openly hostile – to the concept.
I suppose the best position, ironically, is one of indifference. Of course, we’d all like our ideas to be greeted warmly; we’d feel great to see our promotion of cleantech making clear and decisive change. Realistically, however, good ideas aren’t always embraced immediately, though that doesn’t make them any less “good.”
Whether the world realizes it or not, it needs to cut energy consumption, via conservation and efficiency, and it needs to make the remaining consumption less impactful on the environment, via the migration to renewables. Let’s never cease to tell that story and be a part of the process of taking good ideas forward, knowing that our day will come.
Here’s an 
Apparently, I’m the only one who sees the humor in the advertisement that CODA Automotive has been running these last few months:
