EPTWhy is there something of an energy crisis? Simple: we use too much energy. The modern way of life is built around abundant energy. Our transportation is energy intensive, our food is energy intensive, our homes are energy intensive, our work is energy intensive, and we seek out great amounts of energy intensive entertainment and luxury.
Now we face questions of how to provide for our energy "needs" as we come face to face with problems of finite resources and looming environmental disaster. There are many who say we must pursue nuclear energy, but the recent events in Japan remind us that nuclear power has a very dark side, and that is saying nothing of the extreme problem of how to safely store radioactive waste for tens of thousands of years. There are others who say we must use coal, despite the horrible environmental consequences of doing so. There are others still who say we must develop sustainable and environmentally sound solutions - perhaps solar or wind power.
What everyone addicted to power seems to overlook is that the simplest solution would be to simply use far less energy. Why is this so unthinkable? Humans have been around for tens of thousands of years; our modern energy systems and our energy intensive lifestyles are brand new by comparison. Is it so hard to imagine that there were actually happy people in the past? Is it so hard to imagine being happy without computers, cars, climate controlled living spaces, cell phones, TV's, etc? Yeah, it is actually, and I think that's because most of us only know one way of life, and are afraid to contemplate anything else.
Sadly, most of us subscribe to a myth of progress which says we are continually evolving into something better. Things are framed in such a way that we look to people with simpler lifestyles as "backward," "undeveloped," "impoverished," and "unevolved." Evolution itself is highly misunderstood to mean a process of improvement (evolution is not improvement in any universal sense, it is merely a process of adaptation to present circumstances, and also involves some degree of randomness). All these modern toys and conveniences and tools and so on are seen to be symbolic of our ever advancing progress. I'm not sure most of us even stop to think about what we are supposedly advancing toward, or whether the "ultimate goal" is even worthwhile (pop culture leads me to believe our visions of the future are highly problematic - even in utopian visions such as Star Trek).
Giving up even one small piece of the modern lifestyle seems horrific: life without a car!? Without a cellphone!? Without air conditioning!? Without microwave TV dinners and cable TV? Without computers and internet!? Even mild "back peddling" seems frightening: no more owning a computer - just using one at the library? No! I need MY OWN computer! Public transportation!? No! I need my own automobile! This is addiction.
Consider some grim information. There was a report published perhaps 2 months ago by scientists at the University of New Mexico. It showed that if the human population grows to 8 billion by 2025, and there is a 4% economic growth rate between now and then, humanity will require TWICE the amount of energy it does now. Further: if ALL of humanity were to share the American standard of living by 2025, we would require TEN times as much energy as we do now. Where will this energy come from?
There is a strong social justice component to consider. There are folks around the world (like those in Egypt, I'm told) who live on less than 2 dollars a day. I know a teacher who lived in Africa for a few years, and he says many of the people he worked with and knew would have one pair of shoes in a whole lifetime, and would actually remove them on rough terrain for fear of damaging them. He told me life there is very different; one would intuitively calculate how many calories would be consumed in making a trip to the river to get water, and on a day with little or no food, one might forgo the trip to the river. There is extreme poverty in parts of the world. Yet many of us enjoy extremely spacious climate controlled housing, automobiles, packaged everything, airplane travel, computers, TV's, cell phones, vast amounts of STUFF, and on and on. We are addicted. Do you feel this is at all fair - that some of us have far more than we need, while others have far less than they need? If you feel this is acceptable, do you also think you'd feel it is acceptable if positions were reversed, and you were in extreme poverty, while others enjoyed frivolous luxury?
The solution to the energy crisis is simple; widespread adoption of low energy lifestyles. In practice, this will entail much change on a personal level, as well as significant social/economic change which will require large scale collective action.
Will this be a popular idea? No, probably not. Still, I hope some will consider it.
There is enough for everyone's need, but not everyone's greed.
The solution to our addiction is to end the addiction.
