Eco Pages

With all due respect to Al Gore and his recent suggestions for stimulating the economy via putting Americans to work with the new "green" initiatives:

I like Al. I’m glad he’s alerted us to the problem of global climate change. I thoroughly enjoyed his book, Earth in the Balance. But now that we know about the problem, and the causes of the problem, it seems to me that it would make more sense just to do what needs to be done to solve the problem. Government and technology can’t solve the problem for us; the problem is that we consume too much.

Knowing what I do of Al’s research, I’m sure that he has the best of intentions. I don’t really think that he has any ulterior motives. I just think that he’s been "bred" to believe a little too much in the power of public policy. Otherwise he’d stop consuming so much.

I wonder if he’s stopped to think about just how much environmental damage will be done in the process of implementing all those clean energy programs. And a new national electric grid, even a so-called smart grid (one that encourages us to use less energy during peak-usage hours), sounds a lot like tearing down a perfectly good old system (one that has limits), to replace it with one that will enable us to consume even more energy across the board. The problem isn’t that there’s something wrong with the old grid; the problem is that we’re plugging more and more increasingly unnecessary devices into it. As we continue down this road, always trying to get more for less, we should be aware that regardless of what government does, sooner or later, we’re going to hit a dead end. Al’s a very bright guy. I’m surprised that he doesn’t see this.

The recent economic downturn has done more good for the environment than the efforts of all us "environmentalists" combined. We should go with the flow and encourage those who are concerned with a failing economy to get used to it.

Economic growth and environmental sustainability are not compatible, pure and simple. Add more people, and we’re going to have to learn to live on less. The world is round and has physical limitations in which the ingenuity of humans cannot escape. At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, we disconnected from localized environmental constraints which kept our populations in check and confined our material wealth to realistic measures. What’s happening now is that our surpassing of localized natural checks and balances has propelled us to the outer rim of the system’s boundary limits. Now, we have nowhere left to go but back to the basics, one way or another.

I also agree that Al’s one of the "good guys," insofar as he is doing his part to do what he is good at in the best interest of the environment. I merely use his personal consumption habits as a means to keeping things in their proper perspective, and as a means for suggesting how we may best use the information he brings us.

In other words, the new "green" initiatives which the new congress is touting will make no more or less of a difference in terms of environmental sustainability, unless we also return to a simpler, more frugal lifestyle. Contrary to what some believe, public policy doesn’t lead the way on the most critical issues; it follows.

Smaller is better. I’ve never bought a CFL light bulb, because my living space is so small that I only use two forty-watt bulbs interchangeably, and then only when after the sun goes down because I am always close to a window. In my view, the new energy-saving light bulbs are like solar panels and hybrid automobiles, in that they merely serve to make us feel better about the way we live, however wasteful we may be, without having to change our habits. But in the long ru...

     Sometimes the world just doesn’t make any sense to me. CFL light bulbs, hybrid automobiles, solar panels, windmills: For thousands of years we have done without so many devices, and we have been fooled into believing that what we need now, more than ever, is more devices. All eyes are fixed on the impending disaster. We can see that we are picking up speed. "Row faster," shout the environmentalists, "we need more renewable-energy consuming devices."

"There are a thous...