You will be amazed at how quickly people will educate themselves when it
becomes in their economic interest to do so. We need to make it profitable
to conserve. We can do that with higher energy prices, but we can't seem to
muster the political will to do it. Worse, we have been subsidizing energy
consumption for a long time. We really need the carbon tax.
Joel
At 10:44 AM 8/6/09 -0400, you wrote:
Given that every new report says global warming is happening faster
than projected, I think we have to do conservation ASAP and local/
regional production of renewables ASAP.
We just have to make sure (to Andy's point) we have a net reduction in
GHG via any given form of renewables.
While the cheapest, fastest route is certainly education re:
conservation, the catch I have found (as an environmental educator) is
that we are currently a consumer-based society, trained since the 50's
to shop our way out of any situation (how dumb is the cash for
clunkers, in terms of embodied energy?). Education which involved
lifestyle changes is a major challenge.
So I favor as many approaches as possible, as quickly as can be done
"good enough" (no time for perfection, I keep telling myself).
Ultimately, if we don't learn how to live within our (Earth's)
resources, and our culture and our economy remain high-consumption
oriented, we will be continue to be in economic and ecological
trouble. So education is the most important element in the long run.
But all other approaches also welcome, especially if they can be made
part of the process.
Margaret
On Aug 6, 2009, at 10:03 AM, Andy Goodell wrote:
I think my point was lost in the discussion, but to me it's fairly
simple. Wouldn't it be better to fund education and outreach
projects instead of buying more "stuff?"
I think small scale renewable energy is great. If you are already
using little energy, go ahead and install PV and thermal and
microhydro if you can and reduce the load on the grid. But when it's
statewide and tax dollars being discussed, I think educating those
using >1kW is a far better use of resources ($515M in this case)
than producing renewable energy.
-Andy
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visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/
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