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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAverting Economic and Ecological Ruin -- So Why Aren't We Talking About It?
http://www.alternet.org/environment/theres-only-one-real-option-averting-economic-and-ecological-ruin-so-why-arent-weThe following excerpt is reprinted from the new book Energy: Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth, edited by Tom Butler and George Wuerthner, published by Post Carbon Institute and Watershed Media, in collaboration with the Foundation for Deep Ecology.
Energy conservation is our best strategy for pre-adapting to an inevitably energy-constrained future. And it may be our only real option for averting economic, social, and ecological ruin. The world will face limits to energy production in the decades ahead regardless of the energy pathway chosen by policy makers. Consider the two extreme optionscarbon minimum and carbon maximum.
If we rebuild our global energy infrastructure to minimize carbon emissions, with the aim of combating climate change, this will mean removing incentives and subsidies from oil, coal, and gas and transferring them to renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and geothermal. Where fossil fuels are still used, we will need to capture and bury the carbon dioxide emissions.
We might look to nuclear power for a bit of help along the way, but it likely wouldnt provide much. The Fukushima catastrophe in Japan in 2011 highlighted a host of unresolved safety issues, including spent fuel storage and vulnerability to extended grid power outages. Even ignoring those issues, atomic power is expensive, and supplies of high-grade uranium ore are problematic.
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Averting Economic and Ecological Ruin -- So Why Aren't We Talking About It? (Original Post)
xchrom
Apr 2013
OP
Because every investor in Wall St is funding efforts to stop facing reality. nt
raouldukelives
Apr 2013
#2
madrchsod
(58,162 posts)1. why? simple......
the media is being paid by the corporations who are killing our ability to live on this planet.
raouldukelives
(5,178 posts)2. Because every investor in Wall St is funding efforts to stop facing reality. nt
Armstead
(47,803 posts)3. Because it's depressing and we tend to be lazy and avoid difficult things?