The science and technology are here. The general consensus of the population is that environmental and energy issues are important to them. Start with recycling and home energy conservation. Add the purchase of a hybrid vehicle (much more on that later). Use mass transit or ride a bike as much as possible--or walk. Buy organic food at Whole Foods. Buy organic from farmer's markets. Purchase your beer in returnable bottles (65% of the beverage bottles made in America are for beer). Explore solar electricity, composting, buying from a "green" utility. Look for a job with a company committed to sustainable development.
Pay attention to what architects are doing these days. They are fully committed to "Green Design." They have done the research over the past 35 years. They understand daylighting, solar heat gain, fresh air exchangers, workstation climate controls, ergonomic furniture, low emission textiles, and the overall aesthetic allure of buildings. Green architecture reduces employee sick time, enhances productivity, and limits a company's societal environmental impacts. Top this all off with a serious investment strategy guided by federal and local governments for pollution prevention. Pay for it by doing away with corporate welfare for the automobile, petroleum , and highway construction industries. Thanks to the global economy and efforts by EU, Canadian, and Asian firms, pollution control technologies are more formidable than ever before. Now if only we were willing to invest in American businesses seeking to solve our own problems.
More than anything, it is now time to demand that we begin to prepare as a nation not only for energy independence, but to develop the tools and technologies to go off the grid and to let gas stations fade away. The biggest technology revolution in the past fifty years was the joining of computers with software and communications technologies. The biggest revolution of the next fifty years will be the demise of the energy sectors as we know them. This is a vision, anyway. A set of values. Not everyone holds them...yet. But the science and technology are here.
There are problems though. The military-industrial complex, along with the utility and petroleum industries, is directly challenged by positive environmental values. If they weren't, they would be fools. The more energy efficient and environmentally responsible we become as a nation, the less profit available to these dinosaur companies. The more we seek to move into a cleaner and healthier future, the more we challenge short-term investments. And if this were not enough of a problem, it is now clear that a new force is entering the mix. People give this force many names: evangelical right, Christian conservatives, Bible Nazis, anti-environmentalists, the Wise Use Movement, fundamentalists, objectivists. In truth, there is a groundswell that has been forming for the past ten years of numerous highly motivated, extremely shrewd, self-righteous groups (no doubt, environmentalists are equally self-righteous) and individuals who are beginning to seriously drive the argument about nature, technology, and energy. These groups and individuals have seized the language of debate and developed extraordinarily sophisticated rhetorical methods for confusing people and manipulating the media. Environmentalists pale in comparison.
The end result of all of this is that we have the means and the goodwill to change the world for the better. The number of positive steps that you can take to reduce your environmental footprint and increase your freedom from the energy industries is truly remarkable. But there are deep, well-funded forces on the march to protect their interests either by eliminating laws and funding for research and development, or simply by confusing you. Think about it. Why are so many people buying SUVs when they could be buying hybrids? Why did John Kerry, and before him, Al Gore--and both green blood environmentalists--so blatantly refuse to make environmental issues a top priority in their campaigns?
There are phenomenal forces at work in our culture right now. Something new and dangerous is being forged. And this is happening because we are confused. There are many reasons for this, which is one of the main intents of this website, but the bottomline is that we are torn between a past that was comfortable and, quite frankly, garrish (slovenly?) and a future that is unknown. If we can keep the confusion at bay, or at least limit it, there may be hope. We may have the time and the wherewithal to summon up the courage to take control of the destiny of this human world and direct the debate beyond chaos and self-interest. Indeed, there is a city shining on a hill, the question is what will we choose to power its lights--solar? wind? hydrogen? nuclear? coal? natural gas? Who's calling the shots here?
DCB
Pay attention to what architects are doing these days. They are fully committed to "Green Design." They have done the research over the past 35 years. They understand daylighting, solar heat gain, fresh air exchangers, workstation climate controls, ergonomic furniture, low emission textiles, and the overall aesthetic allure of buildings. Green architecture reduces employee sick time, enhances productivity, and limits a company's societal environmental impacts. Top this all off with a serious investment strategy guided by federal and local governments for pollution prevention. Pay for it by doing away with corporate welfare for the automobile, petroleum , and highway construction industries. Thanks to the global economy and efforts by EU, Canadian, and Asian firms, pollution control technologies are more formidable than ever before. Now if only we were willing to invest in American businesses seeking to solve our own problems.
More than anything, it is now time to demand that we begin to prepare as a nation not only for energy independence, but to develop the tools and technologies to go off the grid and to let gas stations fade away. The biggest technology revolution in the past fifty years was the joining of computers with software and communications technologies. The biggest revolution of the next fifty years will be the demise of the energy sectors as we know them. This is a vision, anyway. A set of values. Not everyone holds them...yet. But the science and technology are here.
There are problems though. The military-industrial complex, along with the utility and petroleum industries, is directly challenged by positive environmental values. If they weren't, they would be fools. The more energy efficient and environmentally responsible we become as a nation, the less profit available to these dinosaur companies. The more we seek to move into a cleaner and healthier future, the more we challenge short-term investments. And if this were not enough of a problem, it is now clear that a new force is entering the mix. People give this force many names: evangelical right, Christian conservatives, Bible Nazis, anti-environmentalists, the Wise Use Movement, fundamentalists, objectivists. In truth, there is a groundswell that has been forming for the past ten years of numerous highly motivated, extremely shrewd, self-righteous groups (no doubt, environmentalists are equally self-righteous) and individuals who are beginning to seriously drive the argument about nature, technology, and energy. These groups and individuals have seized the language of debate and developed extraordinarily sophisticated rhetorical methods for confusing people and manipulating the media. Environmentalists pale in comparison.
The end result of all of this is that we have the means and the goodwill to change the world for the better. The number of positive steps that you can take to reduce your environmental footprint and increase your freedom from the energy industries is truly remarkable. But there are deep, well-funded forces on the march to protect their interests either by eliminating laws and funding for research and development, or simply by confusing you. Think about it. Why are so many people buying SUVs when they could be buying hybrids? Why did John Kerry, and before him, Al Gore--and both green blood environmentalists--so blatantly refuse to make environmental issues a top priority in their campaigns?
There are phenomenal forces at work in our culture right now. Something new and dangerous is being forged. And this is happening because we are confused. There are many reasons for this, which is one of the main intents of this website, but the bottomline is that we are torn between a past that was comfortable and, quite frankly, garrish (slovenly?) and a future that is unknown. If we can keep the confusion at bay, or at least limit it, there may be hope. We may have the time and the wherewithal to summon up the courage to take control of the destiny of this human world and direct the debate beyond chaos and self-interest. Indeed, there is a city shining on a hill, the question is what will we choose to power its lights--solar? wind? hydrogen? nuclear? coal? natural gas? Who's calling the shots here?
DCB
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