I agree that the pendulum appears to be starting to turn back as people start to better understand the cost of all the green stuff that was suspiciously never mentioned in the sale pitch. I just hope it accelerates back much faster
Regrettably, few people see the danger in trying to achieve a tiny carbon footprint. The activist class signal their virtue by buying carbon credits, literally a scheme that churns money among friends. At the core each group signals the evil of using the earth, of exploiting nature to be blunt yet there is no other source of sustenance for every living thing. Birds and trees are free to thrive but humans , particularly the productive ones, must be kept in chains.
Development is evil screams the activist ... without ever looking back at the world our ancestors inhabited. Humans were a hairless, tasty morsel until some bright ancestor learn to sharpen a stone , tie to a stick and giving humans the 'teeth' to bite the lion back. That is our legacy with many people not touching any part of the natural world for weeks on end. Be it houses, pavement or manicured grass, all are parts of the human legacy. We live and thrive in the human estate, where the wilds of nature has been largely excluded.
The core idea to question ... Is nature good and human development evil? Answer that correctly and we will flourish. Answering it wrong is the justification for all the obstacles prohibiting energy freedom, the reason we're so easily swayed into accepting energy poverty.
We seek to eliminate pollution but fail to see the greatest source of pollution we face, the pollution of our knowledge base. It is from our minds that we need to purge the polluting ideas for it is our thinking that is inhibited. Life can be good , if we strip the power from those who give us misery. As someone pointed out, we are many and the rulers are few. Clear thinking is the cure for what ails our society.
Oh, I'm sure it is, and so is that French dish with the captive songbirds that Jeremy Clarkson sampled in Meet the neighbours but I'm not eating that, either. I'd rather kill my own chickens and pigs for food. If I have to.
“Anyway, geese raised for foie gras are force fed through a tube until they develop fatty liver disease. Similarly, people raised for the net-zero world are being force fed with climate change propaganda until they develop fatty brain disease, which manifests as climate activism and lying on roads to block traffic. Possibly topless because… I really don’t know why they do it.” So spot on Irina, so spot on. It’s so sad stupid lazy people let themselves be fed this way, but that seems to be our world these days. But as you later note and infer “bill” surprises may just turn the tide and educate the stupid and lazy.
"... you would start wondering if what activists, the news, and the government tell you is actually true."
The moment government gets involved in a societal issue is when the solution to that issue goes off the rails.
Why?
Very simple. Government is accountable to no one and government doesn't know when to stop.
One only need look at Stalin's forced industrialization and collectivization of the Soviet Union wherein millions of people died to understand the consequences of that.
Good economic development is not an oxymoron. Good engineering, not effective propaganda: Good government and regulation is a necessity, not tools to control energy politics. Humility and good financing need to be part the big green dreams. We keep getting imagined benefits, and we are deprived a cost analysis.
The problem I've seen with Irina's POV is not really her fault, but her audience. She says she wants to keep the comfortable life that affordable energy enables, which is a fine thing to say in Bulgaria. When Americans see it and nod along, they're ignoring the fact that they consume several multiples more energy and material than she does, and produce proportionally more waste.
Good point. There is that but how is it a problem? Is it because you agree that large energy consumers should "degrow" their consumption? I actually doubt that most of the people who read this Substack are excessive energy spenders and waste generators. I may very well be wrong because we have different notions of what excessive means, of course, but I like to think I'm not, as do we all.
I won't speculate about the particular audience you've amassed here, but in general, Americans of all political stripes are profligate, feckless consumers who cannot think beyond their base impulses for more than a few seconds. When they're bored they rack up credit card debt on Amazon to have things they'll never use shipped to their doorsteps overnight. They own blocky personal vehicles weighing 3-4 tons, then complain about high gas prices. They fly across oceans multiple times a year for photos they can use to brag to their friends on Instagram, and turn vast tranches of desert into highly manicured golf courses. They never consider the vast edifice of energy, exploitation, and waste that makes their entire existence possible.
So yes, "degrowth" has a lot of meanings and interpretations, but I think it must happen in the west or there is no sustainable energy future. If people like this think, "I want to keep doing what I'm doing," we're in trouble.
I have to agree but it's not just Americans, either. The pull of overconsumption is strong everywhere, including in Bulgaria, just on a smaller case for obvious reasons that have to do with the number of people. It will be the same in other developing countries -- how would the advertising industry make any money otherwise? How would the fashion industry survive, not to mention all the gadget makers... It is, to quote a BRMC song, a complicated situation.
It's not just the number of people. Bulgarians (and most everyone) consume much less than Americans on a per capita basis. It is true that many other places want to consume like Americans... that will not be possible. There is insufficient arable land, fresh water, earth materials, metals/minerals, liquid fuel, and energy for 8+ billion humans to live like Americans.
I agree it is a complicated situation. What will happen to those industries? They will continue until they cannot; until their supply chains become prohibitively expensive, until rising costs for energy, food, housing, etc. chew through the disposable income that forms their revenues. This has happened many times before; old industries die, new ones emerge. I imagine whatever comes next will be less wasteful than fast fashion.
Excellent piece - "In fact, voters care a lot more about jobs, electricity bills, and food prices than “green stuff” ......they have a lot more pressing problems such as all of the above. Most people do not really talk about this climate disaster green stuff unless they are trust-fund babies or rent-seekers!
Now this is VERY interesting, thank you for alerting me!
I agree that the pendulum appears to be starting to turn back as people start to better understand the cost of all the green stuff that was suspiciously never mentioned in the sale pitch. I just hope it accelerates back much faster
Well, Newton's law is not called a law for nothing, so your hope, and mine, has quite a solid foundation.
Regrettably, few people see the danger in trying to achieve a tiny carbon footprint. The activist class signal their virtue by buying carbon credits, literally a scheme that churns money among friends. At the core each group signals the evil of using the earth, of exploiting nature to be blunt yet there is no other source of sustenance for every living thing. Birds and trees are free to thrive but humans , particularly the productive ones, must be kept in chains.
Development is evil screams the activist ... without ever looking back at the world our ancestors inhabited. Humans were a hairless, tasty morsel until some bright ancestor learn to sharpen a stone , tie to a stick and giving humans the 'teeth' to bite the lion back. That is our legacy with many people not touching any part of the natural world for weeks on end. Be it houses, pavement or manicured grass, all are parts of the human legacy. We live and thrive in the human estate, where the wilds of nature has been largely excluded.
The core idea to question ... Is nature good and human development evil? Answer that correctly and we will flourish. Answering it wrong is the justification for all the obstacles prohibiting energy freedom, the reason we're so easily swayed into accepting energy poverty.
We seek to eliminate pollution but fail to see the greatest source of pollution we face, the pollution of our knowledge base. It is from our minds that we need to purge the polluting ideas for it is our thinking that is inhibited. Life can be good , if we strip the power from those who give us misery. As someone pointed out, we are many and the rulers are few. Clear thinking is the cure for what ails our society.
Brilliantly put, thank you!
Green journalism has become the new yellow journalism.
And green politics is the new porn.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but at least with porn there is an “ending.” It seems not so with green propaganda...
Good point! AND everyone is happy at the end or so I've heard.
Fatty Brain Disease. I love it!
Foie Gras is absolutely delicious though- and this is coming from someone who is mostly vegetarian...
Oh, I'm sure it is, and so is that French dish with the captive songbirds that Jeremy Clarkson sampled in Meet the neighbours but I'm not eating that, either. I'd rather kill my own chickens and pigs for food. If I have to.
“Anyway, geese raised for foie gras are force fed through a tube until they develop fatty liver disease. Similarly, people raised for the net-zero world are being force fed with climate change propaganda until they develop fatty brain disease, which manifests as climate activism and lying on roads to block traffic. Possibly topless because… I really don’t know why they do it.” So spot on Irina, so spot on. It’s so sad stupid lazy people let themselves be fed this way, but that seems to be our world these days. But as you later note and infer “bill” surprises may just turn the tide and educate the stupid and lazy.
The pendulum swings both ways. It's a painful reminder of physical laws.
"... you would start wondering if what activists, the news, and the government tell you is actually true."
The moment government gets involved in a societal issue is when the solution to that issue goes off the rails.
Why?
Very simple. Government is accountable to no one and government doesn't know when to stop.
One only need look at Stalin's forced industrialization and collectivization of the Soviet Union wherein millions of people died to understand the consequences of that.
Solution? Knock government off its throne.
Good economic development is not an oxymoron. Good engineering, not effective propaganda: Good government and regulation is a necessity, not tools to control energy politics. Humility and good financing need to be part the big green dreams. We keep getting imagined benefits, and we are deprived a cost analysis.
The problem I've seen with Irina's POV is not really her fault, but her audience. She says she wants to keep the comfortable life that affordable energy enables, which is a fine thing to say in Bulgaria. When Americans see it and nod along, they're ignoring the fact that they consume several multiples more energy and material than she does, and produce proportionally more waste.
Good point. There is that but how is it a problem? Is it because you agree that large energy consumers should "degrow" their consumption? I actually doubt that most of the people who read this Substack are excessive energy spenders and waste generators. I may very well be wrong because we have different notions of what excessive means, of course, but I like to think I'm not, as do we all.
I won't speculate about the particular audience you've amassed here, but in general, Americans of all political stripes are profligate, feckless consumers who cannot think beyond their base impulses for more than a few seconds. When they're bored they rack up credit card debt on Amazon to have things they'll never use shipped to their doorsteps overnight. They own blocky personal vehicles weighing 3-4 tons, then complain about high gas prices. They fly across oceans multiple times a year for photos they can use to brag to their friends on Instagram, and turn vast tranches of desert into highly manicured golf courses. They never consider the vast edifice of energy, exploitation, and waste that makes their entire existence possible.
So yes, "degrowth" has a lot of meanings and interpretations, but I think it must happen in the west or there is no sustainable energy future. If people like this think, "I want to keep doing what I'm doing," we're in trouble.
I have to agree but it's not just Americans, either. The pull of overconsumption is strong everywhere, including in Bulgaria, just on a smaller case for obvious reasons that have to do with the number of people. It will be the same in other developing countries -- how would the advertising industry make any money otherwise? How would the fashion industry survive, not to mention all the gadget makers... It is, to quote a BRMC song, a complicated situation.
It's not just the number of people. Bulgarians (and most everyone) consume much less than Americans on a per capita basis. It is true that many other places want to consume like Americans... that will not be possible. There is insufficient arable land, fresh water, earth materials, metals/minerals, liquid fuel, and energy for 8+ billion humans to live like Americans.
I agree it is a complicated situation. What will happen to those industries? They will continue until they cannot; until their supply chains become prohibitively expensive, until rising costs for energy, food, housing, etc. chew through the disposable income that forms their revenues. This has happened many times before; old industries die, new ones emerge. I imagine whatever comes next will be less wasteful than fast fashion.
I do hope so. Waste is the ultimate problem we have, I believe.
Excellent piece - "In fact, voters care a lot more about jobs, electricity bills, and food prices than “green stuff” ......they have a lot more pressing problems such as all of the above. Most people do not really talk about this climate disaster green stuff unless they are trust-fund babies or rent-seekers!