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You've actually made my point. Solar panels and the internet and computers made in China are not sustainable, even if we like to use them.

A century from now the symbol of solar power is likely to be a tree, not a solar electric panel.

Patents can be useful but they cannot change the laws of physics nor can they create physical resources that do not exist. Relocalize food and learn to live with much less energy. If we were smarter we would think about how to use the rest of the oil, coal, natural gas and minerals -- will be use some of them intelligently so future generations can benefit from our learning and profligate waste? Or will they have a totally trashed biosphere without much of a positive legacy? It's a fascinating time to be alive.

Unfortunately, most Middle Class North Americans are averse to getting their hands in the dirt to grow some of their own food. This is shifting a little but we have a long way to go.

It's mitigation time, not prevention of the problem. If our society had listened to the warnings a half century ago -- M. King Hubbert, Rachel Carson, The Limits to Growth Study, JFK's effort to shut down the Cold War and arms race, even Carter's effort to address energy -- we would be in a better position today.

I hope we reach Peak Denial soon.

"I can testify from my own experience ... that a four-hour work period, or a little less in the case of writing, produces the best results; and the alternation of intellectual activity with other forms of work, like gardening, wood-chopping, food-garnering, carpentry, or machine-tinkering, animates and raises to a higher pitch every other part of the day."
-- Lewis Mumford, "The Myth of the Machine: The Pentagon of Power," (1964), p. 406

by Mark Robinowitz on Jun 8, 2012 12:49 am • link • report