Many living at the top of the energy consumption pyramid
fervently believe there is a green, sustainable, renewable clean energy
available for our future. Much of this
belief is founded in the fervent wish to maintain a significant aspect of our
present energy way of life. To foster
and support this belief, a couple of parables help us understand how factual
this might be.
STREETLIGHT EFFECT
A
policeman sees a drunk man searching for something under a streetlight and asks
what the drunk has lost. He says he lost his keys and they both look under the
streetlight together. After a few minutes the policeman asks if he is sure he
lost them here, and the drunk replies, no, and that he lost them in the park.
The policeman asks why he is searching here, and the drunk replies, "This
is where the light is."
This parable offers
several insights. First the obvious,
that we look where it is easiest to see.
But there is I believe a deeper lesson, that we look where we want to
see.
This next parable adds
a second dimension to seeing the truth concerning green, sustainable and
renewable devices for the future.
ELEPHANT AND THE BLIND MEN
Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a
village. One day the villagers told them, "Hey, there is an elephant in
the village today."
They had no idea what an elephant was. They
decided, "Even though we would not be able to see it, let us go and feel
it anyway." All of them went where the elephant was. Everyone of them
touched the elephant.
"Hey, the elephant is a pillar," said
the first man who
touched his leg.
"Oh, no! It is like a rope," said the
second man who touched
the tail.
"Oh, no! It is like a thick branch of a
tree," said the third man who touched the trunk of the elephant.
"It is like a big hand fan," said the
fourth man who touched the ear of the elephant.
"It is like a huge wall," said the
fifth man who touched the belly of the elephant.
"It is like a solid pipe," Said the
sixth man who touched the tusk of the elephant.
They began to argue about the elephant and
everyone of them insisted that he was right. It looked like they were getting
agitated.
A wise man was passing by and he saw this. He
stopped and asked them, "What is the matter?"
They said, "We
cannot agree to what the elephant is like." Each one of them
told what he thought the elephant was like.
The wise man calmly explained to
them, "All of you are right. The reason every one of you is
telling it differently because each one of you touched the different part of
the elephant.
So, actually the elephant has all those features
as you all said."
www.jainworld.com/literature/story25.htm
Clearly a primary lesson of this parable is the need to see the
whole picture.
When you look at solar energy collecting devices:
Is this your image?
Or do you
imagine this?
OR ARE YOU AWARE OF THIS?
PERHAPS YOU WOULD FIND INTERESTING THE VIDEOS SHOWING
THE INFRASTRUCTURE REQUIRED TO BUILD THESE DEVICES AT:
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So what do you think of when you call something green?
Or call something renewable?
Or call something sustainable?
HOW DO YOU DECIDE THAT A DEVICE, A THING, HAS THESE QUALITIES?
Grass is green but
that is not what you mean, not the color.
Do you mean it doesn’t harm the earth?
If so do you see the whole elephant or only look where you want to find
the key?
How about
renewable? Do you mean it can create
itself? If so, are you saying it can
duplicate itself? If so, are you talking
about all the parts renewing themselves – panels, inverters, controllers, all
their internal parts, batteries, wiring and all that is mentioned in the box
above. Does it create itself like a
horse or an oak tree? What do you mean
when you say it is renewable?
Sustainable – for how
long? When I plant my garden, part of it
I put into clover to build the soil for the following years. Where do I get the clover? If I grow it myself, I deplete that soil
somewhat when I harvest seed (harvesting with personal or machine energy). If I buy the seed, do I let someplace else
consider how to deal with the depletion?
There simply is no free lunch.
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There is the assumption that humans
will change their ways and conserve energy and not consume, consume, consume.
This is akin to Jevons' paradox (perhaps there is one more germaine). If the
energy is available, what will stop continued consumption of tools and toys?
Who will go first with this restraint and restricting? Think of the uproar if
legislated.
I think it is incredibly difficult to
wrap our heart, mind and spirit around the massive changes facing us. A world no longer powered by fossil fuels, no matter what incarnation, is almost inconceivable and for many terrifying. It is indeed traumatic for what it might (probably) means not just for us but also for our love ones, children, grandchildren. Our hearts break. We want to fix it. So we do more technology and more ultimate harm.
It is comforting to prefer the noise of
delusional magical thinking and pretending that the system of perpetual growth
can work forever; that some variant of business as usual can persist. There is just too much tied up with it and
any unraveling would be far too chaotic and unpredictable. Wrapping our heads
around the eventualities of global warming; of overshoot; of the desecration of
world wildlife; of the acidification of the oceans; of the poisoning of
pollinators stymies.
We are slowly technologizing ourselves
into extinction. Technology is seductive. Is it the power? Is it the comfort?
Or is it some internal particularly human attribute that drives it? Technology
surrounds us and becomes part of our story and myths. Technology tantalizes the
human mind to make, combine, invent. There are always unintended consequences
with technology. It affects how we experience the world in time and space. It
affects how we feel about the world. If all the externalities were included in the
prices and cost to nature, we would be very, very wary of technology.
I think we have moved from technology
in the service of religion (pyramids and gothic cathedrals) to religion and
culture in the service of technology. It isn't a deity that will save humanity
but in the eyes of many - it will be technology.
We will do more of the same, business
as usual until there are no more holes in the ground to dig, no more water
above and below to contaminate, no humans to wage slave, no other lifeforms to
eliminate. Yes, we are building Trojan horses in our hearts, minds and spirits.
It will be elitist and entitlement and hubris – it will end with both a bang
and a whimper.
