Read the news. The consumer economy is officially falling apart, our wild party of living beyond our means is crumbling. People simply aren't able to throw away what they have now and go buy new this year. "Going Green" also apparently isn't doing too hot as people are not throwing away their refrigerators and TVs and opting for the newer energy-efficient Made-in-China models.
And what are we doing about it? Buying the most expensive bandages known to man, of course! $700 billion rolls of duct tape are being used to plug up the holes, just so that it can blow some even bigger holes a few years (or months) from now. On top of this, we are not even duct-taping the things that really matter, like our transport systems, energy systems, manufacturing facilities, agriculture systems. We are duct-taping banks - things that handle money, not tangible resources that actually mean something in the end. Los Angeles may have to shut down its buses and trains because they are basically owned by banks, not the city.
Politics circulates around one central theme: taxation and subsidization. "How much money should we give people to blow this holiday season in order to get the economy working again?". In the United States, both mainstream political parties have focused all of their energy on the "#1 Issue" - sustaining consumerism, the dead-end economic policy. Anything remotely "socialist" also remains off-limits, as "socialism" is a bad word in this country - a bad word whose meaning I've found is not really known. Republican politicians continue to use it (successfully) against their opponents in political campaigns. I'm not sure what the free marketeers are calling the $700 billion bank bailout, but guess who is footing the bill? The American People! That's [corporate] socialism, ladies and gentlemen! A straight up handout/rescue to/for the private sector. You can read a wonderful discussion of this issue at Open Left.
Meanwhile, every other problem in the world has been thrown to the wayside as the shoring up of consumerism always must take first priority. We throw money at the problem, as if money will create infinite resource bases, infinite cheap labor, infinite landfill space and infinite atmosphere in which to deposit the spoils of fossil fuel combustion, allowing consumerism and exponential economic growth to survive. Wise-fellows often say "We have TECHNOLOGY!" What they have failed to notice is that better technology only leads to more consumption. It may allow us to use a resource more efficiently, but when it is all said and done, that efficiency is spent on making MORE stuff rather than making the same amount of stuff with fewer resources. Our ability to produce technology has brought us wonders, but we must examine the hidden threats that it poses, though most of the issue lies in the economic policy of "Grow or Die".
But won't solar and wind save our asses?
Well, kind of. They will save us (provided that we put enough online in a reasonable amount of time), but they probably won't save consumerism and breakneck economic growth. They will provide real jobs and real opportunities for people, and can provide the energy needed to operate a modern society which directly values the Earth and its diverse life, people, and resources, is able to maintain a safe, diverse, and clean environment, and actually enjoy life and have fun rather than concentrating on growth and the accumulation of excessive wealth and material goods.
Think of fossil fuels as the "cake in a box" mixes that one can buy at the store, and with the addition of only water, heat, and maybe an egg, a whole cake can be made!
Think of renewables as making a cake from scratch. The ingredients - flour, eggs, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, water, heat, butter, and flavoring are cheap, abundant, and widely available - but we've got to do a little bit more work in order to get them into a final product.
The fast-paced consumer economy needs the cake in a box. It's need for growth and consumption doesn't leave time to mix up raw ingredients. Consumerism wants to have its cake and eat it NOW.
Solar and Wind tend to get all of the credit, but hydro, geothermal, and biomass all have big roles to play...maybe a nuclear unit here and there, but no nuclear [fission or fusion] powered urban consumerist "utopia" like we see in the sci-fi movies. I guess I must be too realistic, as to look at those and wonder how they are powering everything, or where are all of the smokestack industries are located? Those beautiful steel, concrete, and glass skyscrapers all started in some 2500°F+ coal- or gas-fired furnace somewhere. It takes serious fire power to make that stuff.
Also remember that energy is but one of many resources being consumed at unsustainable rates. Soil, fresh water, and wood are just to name a few.
I guess that it is difficult for politicians, industry, and the general populace to criticize the very thing that is providing them sustenance. Someone who works in a factory producing useless widgets might have a hard time discouraging the consumption of said widgets. Unfortunately, the facts can't be denied. We naively assume that resource consumption can grow to infinity and instantly dismiss any alternatives to the current state of economic thought.
Instead of concentrating on the production of those useless widgets and the shoring up of the financial "industry", we ought to be investing in and working on real infrastructure. There are many good jobs to be made there, especially in engineering and manufacturing.
Consumerism in the News...