Frankly #3 - "Energy Blindness"
Discover more from The Great Simplification
Our culture is energy blind.
World events are accelerating. Russia ostensibly closer to ‘victory’ in Ukraine, but already victorious in diversifying her customer base for energy/materials (China, India, Brazil) while simultaneously economically weakening NATO countries. Due to higher oil prices, there are fuel riots and worse in Sri Lanka and Laos, elsewhere. Back home, US gasoline prices are at all time highs, millions of Americans behind on their utility bills, and President Biden clamoring for ways to ‘relieve’ these high prices.
A few years ago I coined the term ‘energy blind’ to represent perhaps one of the greatest - and most dangerous - blindspots of modern culture - we swim in energy like a fish swims in water - but most of us don’t realize it, appreciate it, or plan our futures around it.
I’ve recently finished some big projects - the animated video The Great Simplification, the Earth Day talk integrating art and science and the podcast is up and running - I now plan to do more impromptu ‘riffs’ on topics in the news - approximately one every couple weeks. Today, I offer a 24 minute explanation on what Energy Blindness, how it came about and what it portends for our future.
Frankly #3 - "Energy Blindness"
and this just out on CBS Sunday Morning show:
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/meet-the-fossils-ancient-life-that-powers-our-world/
quite appropo (and quite excellent)
My understanding, if you can call it that, of our current predicament.
1) We have to reduce our use of fossil fuels dramatically, 40% by 2030 and close to zero by 2050 if we are to have a 50% chance of staying below 2˚C above pre-industrial..which is itself a disastrous outcome. This means leaving a large amount of the reserves we know about in the ground, and stopping further exploration.
2) We can't reduce our use of fossil fuels because of the growth imperative, or even without the growth imperative, as renewables haven't got the required energy density to replace all of our current activity.
3) The reality that the age of cheap hydrocarbons is over is about to hit the fan.
4) Our political/economical/social structures are so reliant on the the energy we now use, that it's political suicide to admit any of the above.
5) Meanwhile, climate and biodiversity tipping points loom large.