This phrase was coined by Thomas Friedman… a really smart guy.
By now, we all know how smart it is to use energy wisely by going green. On a personal level, it is one of the brightest moves any of us can make. But let’s think in broadly geo-political terms for just a moment. Someday I am going to write a Phd thesis on the destructive power of wishful thinking and denial. So much fodder for that paper! For instance, global warming. Does anyone really truly believe it is not real? Yes! I know many of them. In the spite of hard data, and almost perfect unanimity among scientists, many regular folks still refuse to believe it is real. The fact is, even if it were a total hoax, and all our climate change was due to the secret emissions of as yet undiscovered flat worms, the best situation for the world is to do something about it anyway. What would happen if everyone decided to go green? What if it became the wave of the future. Would the world cease to turn? No. In fact, it is likely the world would become a far lovelier place, and the capitalist system would jump right on the bandwagon and help things along… thus spurring the economy. Back to the broadly geo-political thing… what would happen if everyone in the US suddenly got all hot and bothered and decided to be energy self sufficient? Imagine that… competing with the neighbors to see who could be more efficient and more green. Truth is, there is SO much waste in our lives, we could do it with relative ease. And then what? Well then, think of all the oil we would not buy. Think of the regimes we would not infuse with our treasure. The middle east would be terribly upset with us for not giving them so much money. So might Venezuela. Man, that would be tragic, wouldn’t it? See what we mean about Green being the new Red White and Blue? We might upset a few others around the world with our “green” habits, but we’d certainly do ourselves the biggest favor possible.
Not to get on a soapbox here, but check out some of these illustration. They are more than a little scary if you stop, look, think and let it all settle in.
Where electricity comes from.
Funny how that big huge part of the pie which represents coal is sort of a grungy gray brown color. Yeah… “funny”. Here’s why.
This is true… and one of the most shocking things I came to realize during my many hours of research. “Uh oh” indeed.
Check out this chart. Remember the big oil crisis of the 70’s? We were still finding much more oil than we used. Look at the situation now. Use keeps rising, but finds keep declining. This chart starkly illustrates what we need to do. Do you like your children? Do you want to leave anything for them?
This is a hopeful looking chart. I like this one.
The only worrisome word on it seems to be deprivation. It has so many meanings. Maybe it means not being able to fly across the country at will to see the family. At the other end of the scale, it could mean “tiffs” over remaining oil supply. “Tiffs”… you know, like war, mayhem, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse stuff… Of course, we stand at the moment at the very top of this chart and have every chance to be brilliant and pull it off.
Just a thought…
xo
QoG