Climate and energy

Many of the voices in today’s energy arguments – regardless of what perspective they represent – are falling into a similar tunnel vision. I think of this trap as the “heroic” narrative of technology, and this is usually how the story goes:

X technology (coal, wind, carbon sequestration, fill in the blank) is great. X technology will save us. It is our only hope. With X, we will triumph. Without X, we will fail. This technology is therefore perfect and you cannot ever challenge this presumption. You’ve got to accept it; it’s all or nothing.

Which leads us to the heroic narrative’s evil twin – the “demonic” narrative. This story goes:

Y technology is evil, bad, and wrong. It will destroy us. If it becomes reality, life as we know it is all over. Everything about this technology is bad and you cannot challenge this presumption. You’ve got to accept it; it’s all or nothing.

And then, demonic or heroic, people only use the facts that support their own argument.

Yeah. Pretty extreme. Yet I’m afraid that extreme has become normal, and moderation is harder to find. For a while now, our society has been polarized over many topics. Technology is no exception. Too often, we make a technology out to be all good or all bad. That’s an easy, kneejerk response, but it’s not effective. For a change, these two approaches might want to think about meeting somewhere nearer a middle ground.

Not that I have it all figured out, but here’s my take: Technology is a product of human endeavors. We all know humans aren’t perfect, and we don’t know everything there is to know about our amazingly complex world. We probably never will. Our knowledge changes and evolves, and we have to work within and respect the limits of our environment.

Technology reflects this sense of what it means to be human. Our technologies aren’t perfect any more than we are. They have benefits, yes, but they also have burdens. They all have environmental impacts, and those impacts occur over their entire life cycle. Technologies also change over time. Sometimes they improve. Sometimes they become obsolete. Sometimes the context – such as economic and ecological conditions – changes, and the technology must adapt as well.

Nope. Looking at it my way is definitely not easier. But I don’t think these energy conversations are going to be easy. And maybe they shouldn’t be. Maybe these choices are hard for a reason.

For the first time in a long time, a good number of people are starting to think long and hard about how their actions affect the world around them. They are starting to connect the dots, and they are starting to take energy less for granted.

I don’t think that’s bad.

— Maril Hazlett

Want to learn more about climate and energy issues in the Midwest? Check out www.climateandenergy.org.