|
An email list I'm on is currently discussing an article in Wired magazine about Shai Agassi's Audacious Plan to Put Electric Cars on the Road. Agassi's goal is to get us off of oil by putting a large number of electric cars on the road. His audacious business plan is not to make money on the sale of the cars, but instead sell them cheaply and make money from charging and switching out batteries. Agassi's approach to the problem, thinking outside the box with systems thinking is impressive. However, a comment on WIRED's website points out that he's merely positioning himself as a gatekeeper between the EV and the utility grid, selling an interface which is completely unnecessary. Others on my email list point out other problems - a logistical nightmare, and where is all this extra supply of electricity that will be needed going to come from? Hydrogen is an energy carrier rather than an energy source...and we're quite a ways away from hydrogen being an efficient energy carrier. As for nuclear power, note that John Rawlins, who is a retired nuclear physicist (Hanford), is now firmly convinced that nuclear power is no solution (see his article here). Natural Gas - the signs are that conventional natural gas in North America has peaked, though we're now seeing a growing amount of unconventional (and costly) natural gas becoming available. How much supply will be available long term is hard to say - some say not very long). So, are we ready to beef up our national coal-based power grid for battery vehicles? Why is it that when we discuss solutions to the oil crisis, we go right to ideas for how to continue our current lifestyle? Specifically, ideas to continue the culture of the private automobile which currently dominates our economy and our way of life and has had a huge negative impact on our planet and our communities. The private automobile represents freedom to most Americans. But how free are we when the average speed is 5 mph (when you take into account the hours you have to work to pay for the car, time spent in traffic jams and stop lights, etc.)
In regards to our current culture and the concept of freedom, Meg Mathis, on my email list, writes, "Are we ready to change culture to the degree we need to, which means of course ourselves? Many of our best leaders are starting to ask us to face ourselves in this energy/environmental crisis, which basically means questioning our basic relationship to life and how we are currently living every day. Really, fuel is a resource that we use that is a direct reflection of our value sphere. Like money, our personal use of it determines what it is we are really placing the most value on. Do we use it merely for personal security and gain? This brings up questions about what we consider "freedom" to be and the reality that as many of us as possible need to reconsider the definition of that term...So what do we, as an emerging culture, consider "freedom" to be? It is clear that, from an integral perspective, internal freedom must be Absolute in order to even begin to look into this question on a cultural level. The external or cultural expression of that kind freedom at this stage would be that we are naturally going to be aware that we are always either reinforcing a particular cultural norm or contributing to the emergence of a new and higher one. In that we will also be naturally motivated to sacrifice personal freedoms, like material comforts, if necessary to reach for the solutions." For more discussion of freedom, Vicki Robin has some very interesting things to say about Freedom and Limits (see below).
I admit I'm still driving my personal automobile, a 1993 Honda Civic hatchback. But isn't it time we begin to think about making other transportation arrangements and localizing our lifestyles? An alternative that has been suggested by Pat Murphy, in his book "Plan C: Community Survival Strategies for Peak Oil and Climate Change," is The Smart Jitney for Rapid, Realistic Transport. "A Smart Jitney system could be developed rapidly and provide a very sizable (50-75%) reduction of both gasoline consumed and greenhouse gases generated by personal transportation in the US. It could also be the model for a new and most efficient approach to personal mobility. Ultimately, it could keep the US economy going by giving people a way to get to and from work if suddenly there was insufficient fuel for private cars."
Relevant articles listed below.
The Other Side of Freedom
by Vicki Robin
In the decade that I've been speaking and writing about the movement known as voluntary simplicity, downshifting or sustainable consumption, I've alternately encouraged, supported, and goaded many people's emergence into greater freedom. As they've come to realize that they were not trapped, but had choices about their lives, these people have changed houses, jobs, eating habits, spiritual practices, even visions for the future.
As I've witnessed this process, I've become aware of my own passion for freedom. I've nosed along the trail of freedom since I was very young, keen to openings where something fresh might blow in and swirl out musty ideas or now-dead routines. For some people, establishing a routine provides freedom, but my own life has been a series of ruptures of the ordinary to re-experience the extraordinary. Then one day I picked up the phone and heard the voice of a man I know to be a fellow culture disturber...
http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=764
How Limits Make Life Simpler
by Vicki Robin
...It turns out that the problem isn.t freedom, but our definition of freedom as no limits. .No limits. is actually impossible anywhere but the human mind and spirit. On earth, life is full of limits, and we depend on them for order, predictability, safety, protection, property, sport, art, architecture, cities, marriage, organizations and all the civilizing aspects of human society and personal existence. Natural law, too, depends on limits: gravity and magnetism, for example. Even the limit of death is essential for renewal of life. As intoxicated as we might become when the lid comes off, when we are released from frustrating or debilitating constraints, we actually don.t want a life of no constraints. We want to have a say over which constraints we choose to protect, connect, respect, reject and select in shaping of our personal and community lives...
http://www.simplicityforum.org/files/How_limits_make_life_simpler-Robin.pdf
Plan C: Curtailment and Community
by Pat Murphy (buy his book, Community Survival Strategies for Peak Oil and Climate Change)
A basic societal transformation is needed to change from the three principle values of Competing, Hoarding and Consuming to values of Cooperating, Sharing and Conserving. To usefully "think globally-act locally" we must conserve here at home and we must cooperate at home and abroad in finding just and equitable solutions to the challenges of Peak Oil, climate change and inequity. The triple threats of peak oil, climate change and increasing inequity are growing in intensity at a shocking rate. We are bombarded with disturbing news including threats of war and even preemptive nuclear attack. We are told that China is a threat to our survival because it is attempting to mimic the American lifestyle. Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth” suggests that our very survival is at stake from global warming. The handwriting is on the wall – massive change is in the offing – and we are totally unprepared. This New Solutions report discusses options for addressing these threats under the rubric of four “plans” arbitrarily labeled A, B, C and D. The alternative proposed, Plan C, is to tackle the issues of food, housing and transportation, preparing for a world of greatly reduced fossil fuel consumption.
PDF: http://www.communitysolution.org/pdfs/NS10.pdf
HTML: http://www.energybulletin.net/20501.html
Smart Jitney: Rapid, Realistic Transport
by Pat Murphy (author of Plan C: Community Survival Strategies)
After World War II the country made transportation via the private car the top priority at the expense of public transportation. The private car, regardless of its convenience, can no longer serve as the principle mode of people transport. Its high cost, the depleting of fossil fuels, and climate deterioration – along with high rates of deaths and injuries – make it unacceptable. A "Smart Jitney" ridesharing system could be developed rapidly, and provide for a very sizable (50-75%) reduction of gasoline consumed and greenhouse gases generated by transportation.
http://www.communitysolution.org/pdfs/NS12.pdf
 |
