I think that every person who thinks of themselves as an environmentalist should read this book. Even if you don’t agree with the authors (though personally, I have no doubt that the vast majority of what they say is right), it will at least give you something to think about.
The book is a scathing indictment of the ‘bright greens’ – environmentalists who have become cheerleaders for the so-called ‘renewable’ technologies: solar and wind power, electric vehicles, etc.
Regarding renewable energy sources, the book claims that:
1. They will never make more than a slight dent in the use of fossil fuels.
2. Even if by some miracle they could replace fossil fuels, their impact on the environment would be virtually as bad.
Regarding electric vehicles, they have pretty much the same view I do – a car is a car is a car. Whether it’s powered by gasoline or batteries, it still has a devastating impact on the planet. I have always guessed that this was the case, but this book lays out the problem in minute (some might even say too fine) detail.
The book’s overarching premise is that our industrial civilization is, at its core, incompatible with a healthy planet. Note that they don’t say it’s incompatible unless it’s fixed. They say it’s incompatible – period. They also point out what seems an obvious truth - that our economic dependency on constant growth is not sustainable. It’s like endlessly pouring water into a bucket and expecting that magically the bucket will never fill. Is there really anyone reading this who doesn’t grasp that this strategy is insane?
The authors accuse the bright greens of distracting from the real problems facing the world – the continuing destruction of the animals, plants, and ecosystems, by pretending (and I really mean pretending) that it can all be fixed with technology. But building that technology requires a massive infrastructure of mines, factories, roads, and dams. That is true regardless of the technology being built. And it’s that infrastructure that is killing the world in the first place.
There is only one way to save the planet – one way – let me repeat that – one way: we have to drastically cut back on our use of technology, everything from cars, smart phones, and big screen TVs to designer running shoes. The problem is, people don’t want to do that, so they invent all kinds of complex pretend ways that they can somehow have their Earth and destroy it too. They can’t.
In George Orwell’s book 1984, the government keeps the populace distracted by constantly waging wars against shadowy adversaries. In our world, industry, government, and even many environmentalists, keep us all distracted by claiming that we’re fighting Climate Change, and that somehow everything will be okay if we can just fix that one thing. Climate Change is a catastrophic problem, but it’s only one of many. Driving an electric car won’t undo the unrelenting extinction of the world’s plants, animals, insects, and fish. It won’t remove the mountains of plastic from the oceans. It won’t eliminate the toxic waste from the rivers, lakes, and soil. It probably won’t even fix Climate Change.
What we humans needs to do is fundamentally change the way we live. That’s a really sobering thought, but I believe it’s true. Nothing else will work. Everything else is just misdirection, sleight of hand.
There's one incentive the authors point out that might make the truth easier to swallow. We really don’t have a choice. If we don’t do it, Nature will simply do it for us. At some point, and probably soon, we will reach a state where the planet is truly unlivable for everybody – including us.
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