I have just realised that one of my heroes, science fiction author Kurt Vonnegut, suggested in 1990 that one day soon we will all go “belly-up like guppies in a neglected fishbowl.” He suggested an epitaph for our planet “We could have saved it, but we were too darn cheap and lazy.” It seems to hit the nail on the head.
Everywhere I seem to look, people are realising that we have, in the last 50 or so years, almost totally ignored energy efficiency in pursuit of convenience or short term cost, or even worse, just because we don’t care. In many cases we can improve efficiency by adopting and adapting old fashioned techniques, as in the case of this new zero energy laboratory where the design leader John Andary said
“We went back to simple design techniques that were used before there were electric lights and before we had air conditioning compressors. What you had then were narrow buildings that optimized the use of daylight and windows you could open to provide ventilation.”
It is already obvious that Europe is significantly ahead of the rest of the world, presumably as a result of their earlier legislation, which while it has been widely condemned as confused and much too weak, is at least putting manufacturers on notice that change is coming. Imagine what would happen if we actually got serious and put a real price on carbon, without the massive bribes to the current big polluters.
The US is experiencing a “monster heat wave” which has even mainstream media talking climate change, while exceptional temperature have been recorded from Beijing to Kuwait where temperatures of 53 degrees in the shade has caused a power crisis. So far 2010 is the hottest year on record. On top of the gulf oil spill, this seems to be slowly building support for a climate bill, though the odds of anything significant still look remote. However the Gruen Transfer had a lovely ad on their segment “the Pitch”, which challenges ad agencies to sell the unsellable. This week “To come up with a campaign that convinces us an oil spill is a good thing.” The second entry by Lunch Partners, used Prof. Tim Flannery to excellent effect.
Lastly Climate Denial Crock of the Week has a video on “Climate Change and National Security” which I embed below. Well worth watching.
