FORA.tv

The Smart Network

Amory Lovins Advocates for a Cleaner, Safer Energy Future

The Entertainment Gathering
Rate It
24,139 Views
  • Info
  • Bio
  • Full Program
  • Highlights
  • Transcript
  • Download
  • More
jason15 Avatar
jason15
Posts: 1
Posted: 09.06.09, 04:43 AM
Hello,
Energy efficiency makes sense- it's a no brainer- do more with less....
but to say that efficiency is the solution to the nature of the problems we face as a society is missing the mark.
Dow and DuPont save x% through increased efficiencies this year over last, but dow and DuPont grew y% in total size because those efficiencies proved to be so lucrative and provided a competitive advantage resulting in higher market share. At the end of the day if the amount represented by the x% in savings is smaller than the amount from the y% growth- you actually have a net increase of total consumption- exactly the opposite of what the efficiencies are designed to provide.
As long as the dominant form of thinking is reductionist and linear the "solutions" will continue to evade our most dogged attempts- We know that all life on earth produces byproducts that are the feedstock of the next lifeforms processes- this produces no waste at all and the overall pattern is cyclical since except for sunlight and the odd meteorite Earth does not gain any new materials- it just recycles the ones it has...
The next major and radical leap that is the inspiration of this talk, is to bring awareness, hope and make possible this understanding of nature as stated above and then mimic it in our industrial processes!
For it is fundamental error of insight to think that efficiencies and technologies given the proper incentives can solve the climate and energy crisis's we face as a society alone without this bedrock shift in awareness.
Continued exponential growth is doomed to failure- efficient or not- we must turn this ship from a linear path to a cyclical one and understand the complex relationships between networks- like the relationships of tissue to organ, organ to organism, organism to ecosystem ecosystem to Earth Earth to solar system etc...
This is the next radical leap into the unknown- and it is going to require humility for in it the individual ego is not as important as it is today...
cheers
j dow

Nature favors those organisms which leave the environment in better shape for their progeny to survive.
James Lovelock
Permalink
Please log in or register to post a comment.

Related Programs

Saul Griffith: Climate Change Recalculated Saul Griffith: Climate Change Recalculated
01:37:30 min | 31,601 Views
Arnold Schwarzenegger on Keeping California Cool Arnold Schwarzenegger on Keeping California Cool
01:07:48 min | 54,840 Views
Rising to the Challenge of Copenhagen Rising to the Challenge of Copenhagen
00:51:12 min | 3,933 Views
Off the Grid: Energy & the U.S. Economy Off the Grid: Energy & the U.S. Economy
00:26:46 min | 2,913 Views
Race for the Arctic Race for the Arctic
00:26:46 min | 2,079 Views

Browse Programs by Tag

Arts Books Climate Change Computing Conflict Credit Crunch Defense Democratization Economic Policy Education Election 2008 Emerging Markets Energy Entertainment Entrepreneurship Environment Film Food Globalization Health & Wellness Healthcare History Internet Investing Law Medicine Music Muslim World Natural Sciences New Media Personal Technology Philanthropy Religion Social Issues Social Sciences Sustainability Terrorism The Bailout U.S. Foreign Policy White House 2009

Advertisement