Ignorance Doesn’t Stop Journalists Misleading Public
on Environment; Climate and National Security, more…
It’s because of article like
this one by Jennifer Hickey published in NewsMax that so many Americans are confused
about environmental issues and renewable energy. The article’s main qualms with wind power
are that it does not produce enough energy, has unanticipated effects (killing
birds) and costs more than originally thought. The article implies that every
other energy source (oil, gas, coal) kills no animals, has no extra costs and
only took a couple of years to develop. We need real, honest, balanced
journalism if common non-expert citizens are going to understand complex issues
like renewable energy.
Then, there is Richard Lindzen who says that we should just continue polluting and hope that clouds take care of the single issue of global warming. Best quote from Richard starts with, “if I’m right.” I am not counting on Richard to be right, and what about all the other effects of massive amounts of pollution? What about top soil loss, human health effects, species extinction, dead zones?
Too many pundits are commenting
on environmental issues without any education. Meanwhile the situation is getting
worse and worse.
I think one of the main
problems is that global warming is a
phenomenon we are not psychologically prepared to deal with. First of all, to admit that there is a problem
is to admit that you have been part of the problem, who can take this burden on
in a healthy emotional way? Then, the problem is systemic and not apparent in
the daily lives of everyone.
Humans are prepared to deal with immediate, visible problems, not mostly invisible problems of the future. This is why humans wait for a disaster before addressing issues that we have seen coming from miles away. The issue with global warming is that when the issue is in your face you are only able to adapt instead of prevent. Hmm, I am seeing the parallels between global warming and the American healthcare industry. For both, we will spend a lot of money and effort on crisis management and almost nothing on prevention.
Humans are prepared to deal with immediate, visible problems, not mostly invisible problems of the future. This is why humans wait for a disaster before addressing issues that we have seen coming from miles away. The issue with global warming is that when the issue is in your face you are only able to adapt instead of prevent. Hmm, I am seeing the parallels between global warming and the American healthcare industry. For both, we will spend a lot of money and effort on crisis management and almost nothing on prevention.
Military and national
security experts consider climate change as a major
national and global security threat - and have for some time now. The
US Military is quite serious about this threat, this should be very surprising
and confusing to conservatives in America.
In the currently weak American
economy of 2013, renewable energy jobs are
growing faster than the rest of the economy. Texas is taking on many of these jobs and
now Texas has more renewable energy workers than ranchers.
Innovation in the renewable
energy industry will bring it into the mainstream more than lower equipment
prices. Solar Mosaic is
trying to do just that; innovate solar into the
mainstream.