crit·i·cism [kridəˌsizəm] noun: the
expression of disapproval of someone or something based on perceived faults or
mistakes.
rant [rant] speak or shout at length in a wild,
impassioned way
Lately I have not had much hope (perhaps
that is a good thing) that attending talks with the word “sustainability” in
the title will teach me much about how to achieve a “long-term ecological
balance” in my life. Instead, I usually
assume that the talk will be much more about promoting a new technology or “renewable”
energy source to sustain our current way of life (when I say “our”, I am
referring to life as a middle to upper class American). So when I first heard about the
“Sustainability Forum: Threats and Opportunities” that was held today (January
7, 2017) at the Columbia Heights MN Public Library, I was skeptical about
attending. But then I found more
information about the event (see this link for an example http://citizensforsustainability.org/2017/01/04/2017-call-for-big-picture-folk/
) which proclaimed
“At this crucial time in
world (and U.S.) history, when the future of civilization and life on this
planet hangs in the balance, and political leadership is swinging increasingly
to the authoritative right, it’s time for well-intentioned people to step up to
the plate. Hoping that “others” will take care of our collective problems will
not get the job done.”
I regained some hope (a mistake I believe
now) that this forum might be different. The talks being promoted in the flyer
I saw indicated that R. Michael Conley (the founder of Weathering the Storm) would
tell us about “The Perfect Storm: Our Sustainability Challenges, Alan Ware (a
research fellow at World Population Balance) would share his thoughts on “Making
the Connection: Overpopulation and Sustainability, and Matt Holland (editor of
“Best Practices” and apparently some sort of sustainability expert with the
University of Wisconsin System) would close out the forum with a foray into
going “Beyond Boom & Bust”.
Mr. Conley began his talk with some simple basics
on what are the sustainability related challenges we face and explained how he
liked to compare the diagnosis of climate change to high blood pressure. Both diagnosis are at first easy to ignore,
but if the symptoms are denied for too long, then eventually bad things can
happen.
I was disappointed that he did not step
back and look at this comparison from the big picture view promised in the
forum promotional material. Instead I
came to believe by the end of the forum, that like high blood pressure (by this
time mine had gone up), he and the other speakers were apparently toting that all
we need to do is follow the doctor’s (or folks like the speakers) prescription
and swallow some pills that allow us to keep living the good life (or at least
believing in it).
The pills seemed to be the likes of the
twin clean-green-renewable energy technological miracles of solar and wind
energy and their all American beneficiary of these new and improved fuels, the electric
car or lawn mower; and condoms to be shoved down the throats of those
overpopulation sources of our disease in the “developing” world like India and
China who simply need to take a pledge of using birth control and educating
their women folk. For think about the
impact on the planet if all those hordes were to obtain the simple pleasure of
a “Bic Pen” as Mr. Ware reminded us, and then if we get rid of them, then we could
avoid a future where we (American middle to upper middle class white-folk) had to
give up our electric cars powered by windmills and solar panels with the
resources to build the infrastructure now easily plundered from the depopulated
developing countries and avoid living in poverty ourselves (my take on his talk
anyway).
So here’s to us, those who – have taken the
big steps of stopping our progeny at 1 or 2 or better yet opted for no
offspring at all; and have had the vision (and wealth) to be able to promote,
purchase, and install wind turbines and solar panels on our roof tops and in
our backyards, and purchase all that shiny new electric powered equipment and
entertainment devices that can keep our reinvented economy growing. And as an afterthought – perhaps we owe at
least a token thanks to the over populated developing countries who we will
help to become depopulated for the opportunity for us to continue to plunder
the planet to find the resources to produce the new infrastructure that will
allow these “renewable energy sources” to be as the day’s closing song reminded
us – “reduced, reused, and recycled” into infinity so we can keep “our” economy
growing and glowing – right (or am I wrong)?????
I am sure the good folks involved in planning
and presenting this forum had no intention of leaving the audience as disgusted
as I was, but rather hoped to inspire more hope for our fossil fuel free
future, but I for one have become more resolved to hold strong to my renewed commitment
to avoid talks by perhaps well-intentioned “leaders” who fail to really step
back, open their eyes, and see the big picture.
For if they did, I think they would begin to see that to really convert
our current fossil fuel powered economy to so called “renewable” energies, is
at best a pipe dream designed to keep the American Dream alive for a little
longer. But just like their fossil fuel brethren,
“renewables” designed to power an economic global super power like America, depend
on an extremely non-renewable infrastructure of a very limited lifespan.
Solar panels don’t magically grow from the
ground, no matter how much “bio-mimicry” we use in the design process. In the real world you need to mine silicon
for the solar collectors, aluminum ores for the frames, sand for the glass
encasements, copper for the wiring and new grids, iron for the new grid support
poles. The process of converting silicon
to solar panels uses large amounts of energy (typically of the fossil based
sort), uses hazardous chemicals to process the panels, and releases greenhouse
gases into the atmosphere. Wind turbine infrastructure
is also not “clean and green”, nor renewable.
There is the need for steel to build the support towers, metals to build
the generators, petroleum to create the resin used to make the fiberglass
blades, huge concrete foundations buried in the ground to support the graceful monstrosities,
and more copper to create the transmission cables to carry all this “renewable”
energy to our homes and factories where we make it all happen (or at least used
to until we found out it is cheaper to build all this stuff in third world
countries where we don’t have to worry about the costs of clean air or
sustainable wages).
So until our renewable energy gurus or
salesmen can start to provide some data, slides and graphs detailing what the impacts
from all these and other processes will be on the people and the planet and how
all this worn out infrastructure will be disposed of – I will not be buying
into the renewable unlimited energy fantasy future. And if somehow we could achieve it (based on
previous experiences with such forays) I have a feeling that the side effects
would kill us off faster than any dose of high blood pressure or climate change
every could.
I suppose that makes me a doubter, a
denier, a skeptic, a cynic, rambling idiot, or a hopeless doom and
gloomer. But I think it is time to
embrace these labels boldly and let go of a hope for this nightmare of ours to
go on. So called overpopulated third
world populations are not the source of our problems, but rather a convenient
source to blame, provide cheap labor to build our stuff, and find many mouths
to feed our excess industrialized grain to, so we can take their prime lands to
mine our minerals, grow our luxury foods like coffee or fruit, sugar, or other recreational
mind numbing drugs on.
Perhaps I should not blame the speakers at
this particular event who are likely just telling the same tale that we all
seem to proclaim in one way or another in order to justify our own privilege, rewards,
and existence that depends on promoting the company line – that economic growth
(although perhaps it may needs some tweaking or “greening”) is the root of all
that is good (at least to those of us who get the goods). It also helps us to continue to deny the much
more likely reality that this economic growth designed to provide profits for a
few (and mind-numbing rewards to a few more) is actually the root cause of all
our symptoms of the dis-ease we are all inflicted by (and by all here I mean
everyone, the 1%, the 2%, the 10%, and even the overpopulated folks we like to
blame for our problems – the 90%).
Despite how much we would like it to be
true, “renewable” energy sources or population reduction is not the answer to
our problems. Rather the reality is the
only prescription that will heal the ails we have begins by acknowledging the
limits of the finite planet we live on and then to thank our lucky stars that
we live on a planet that has provided us with an opportunity to even exist. We need to stop listening to fools who make
up the 1% and their message regurgitated by us 10%-ers (whether we are right or
left leaning) that consumption, a growing economy, and competition are what it
is about (even if we “green” it up or make it more “sustainable”). We need to power down big time (and here we
refers to us white middle and upper middle class folks) and stop consuming a
bunch of crap that we don’t need. And we
Americans need to give up our dream world and start living like those “poor”
overpopulated folk we think we are better off than, and perhaps if they are
willing to teach us, learn from them how to survive on a lot, lot, less than we do now.
Note that I am pretty sure that that means
giving up on the biggest part of the American dream – the personal automobile –
no matter what you use to fuel it or what color you paint it. We need to find
solutions not based on shoving into other people’s back yards things we would
not have in our own back yards, nor take from other people’s back yards what
our own backyards lack. Instead we need
to begin to live within the means available to us in our own yards and realize that
if we destroy our yard, we destroy ourselves, along with everything else that
lives there. And that is the big fat
pill we need to swallow whole (even if it gags us), if we are to have any hope
of finding some sort of long term ecological balance in these miserable lives
we have allowed to be created.
And that is the end of this rant, for now.
