Change the world? Change the way you see it
I write about a series of energy related paradigms that require shifting. One paradigm every week, ten weeks in a row. This is the third one:
There is nothing wrong with fossil fuels
Fossil fuels are a product of nature. What could possibly be wrong with them?
We should be thankful for fossil fuels. Let's face it: ever since we started to burn our soil we've gone faster than ever before. We may thank our food, our light, and our heat to oil, coal, and gas.
And there is something even much bigger that we may thank fossil fuels for: time. Before we discovered coal, oil and gas, humans spent up to 80% of their awake hours to fulfill their energy needs. This meant that we had no choice than to spend our precious time running after animals, hoping that they'd get tired before we did so we could eat them, or plough land, or do other heavy work day in day out just in order to survive. In fact, billions of people still do not have that choice.
Clash of Clans
And time is a precious thing: the only real scarcity we have. We owe our education, our life expectancy, our managerial qualities, our social life and ouraddiction to Clash of Clans to fossil fuels. We enjoy life at the flick of a switch.
we enjoy life at the flick of a switch
Our fear for the transition to renewable resources is in reality a fear of time-loss. We are not unsure about the possibility to sustain ourselves with 100% renewables. We are unsure whether we can make this transition without having to give back the time we have borrowed from Earth.
Here's an idea: what if we quickly cease to spend borrowed fossil energy for consumptive purposes, and instead invest the remainder of those resources into the production of renewable energy technology, so that we will never need oil and coal again?
Gotta go to rehab
It’s time for our fossil-fuel-rehab. We have about one generation to shift to 100% renewables. No more than a few decades to divest, invest, develop, shift, change, implement and enjoy being clean.
Just like drugs, fossil fuels are not bad unless you touch them, mkay?
Arash (1977), entrepreneur, aims to contribute to a culture of empowerment in an economy of abundance. Watch his TEDx here.
You can read Arash' other articles on the subject here:
Paradigm #1: No energy savings will save us
Paradigm #2: Alternative is not alternative
Stay tuned for paradigm #4 next Monday!