Renewable Energy and the Tough Realities
I may have mentioned that I’m working on another book. One of the problems I face is that, other than that it further investigates the path to renewables, I really don’t know what it’s about yet. I’m gathering information, conducting interviews with super-smart and well-positioned people, and so I have reason to hope that an organizing theme will be coming along any time now — but right now it’s eluding me.
It’s certainly possible that the “tough realities” theme (that I invoked in my last book) has more legs. Each of the major reasons to move off of fossil fuels comes with its own unique challenges. Let’s take the subject of partiotism as an example.
In my mind, the most patriotic thing anyone can do is to get behind solutions that will lessen the US dependence on oil. Unless you favor war, crushing debt burden, increasing ownership of American assets by foreign entities, empowering terrorists, the erosion of the middle class, etc. you really have to think that electric vehicles, mass transit, and other technologies to reduce oil consumption are good news. In fact, I would say they’re as patriotic as the 4th of July.
But here’s a piece of tough reality: you won’t find Fox News and the other right-wing flag-wavers in the US saying anything resembling this. In fact, Fox’s coverage of this subject is essentially non-stop condemnation and ridicule. “What’s the Fisker (high-end plug-in hybrid electric passenger car) product called again?” Bill O’Reilly asks with a mocking sneer. “The Karma? Oooooh, the Karma! Now that’s a product we really need here,” he dismisses smugly. Plus, keep in mind that O’Reilly’s by far the most sophisticated one on the whole team — and the best he can do is a kind of sophomoric name-calling? Isn’t that odd? In any case, it’s part of the large ensemble of tough realities with which we live day to day.
Yes, I think I’ll explore this theme further. In fact, each of the reasons to migrate to renewables (environmentalism, healthcare, peak oil, national security, job creation, etc.) is chock full of these controversies.
While I’m at work developing this more deeply, I hope you’ll let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.