Andy,
I agree with you on statements one and two below, namely the usual
subsidy of clunckers and solar panels. But whether we're talking about
the development of products or education, the problem will necessarily
involve scalability.
Education not only needs the inputs of qualified teachers and a sensible
curriculum, rare even with familiar topics, not to mention new topics
such as how to live with less, it needs the wise attention of every kind
of supporter, from parents and students to legislators and wonks.
There's also the issue of whether we can even begin to standardize the
curriculum, without which we may create disequilibrium and the chaos of
prejudiced approaches. Consider how long it took to standardize medical
and engineering education, just to point to two examples. And then
overcoming the psychological and philosophical barriers related to why
we've embarked on such a project would be no mean feat. None of this is
as simple as it looks at first blush, the same problem no doubt that
pertains to throwing money at scaling up the production of stuff that,
naturally, boils your blood.
I agree we have to learn to live with less, lots less. I also recognize
the impediments and the pain people experience when they finally reckon
with the idea that they may not be able to have all the resources they
imagined to have been within their purview. Having lived through most of
it, I'm also aware of the history you have alluded to below. The
campaign to educate people about various ecological issues has been
focused on policy makers and the reading public. It has been long and
intense and, I would argue, largely unsuccessful.
I stand by my original concern, which you never did respond to: apathy,
denial, and incredulity regarding the issues we explore on this listserv
abound in the larger community. Hell, we can't even agree among
ourselves about how do much of anything. I don't mean to suggest we
shouldn't try or that we shouldn't keep talking, but I don't believe the
educational approach is necessarily any better than another. I have a
certain sense of urgency about the matter, as you well know.
Bethany
Andy Goodell wrote:
Bethany,
Give people higher mileage cars, and they won't feel so bad about
driving farther.
Give them solar panels (at no perceived cost to them), and what's to
say they won't just use more energy?
It's a feel good tactic that doesn't solve the problem that we simply
use too much energy. I don't know the history on this, but I don't
think the gov in the past 30 years has ever handed out significant
funding for education like this. I assume that $515M to a state for
energy education could go a very long way.
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