On February 3rd I had a chance to hear the world renowned scientist Mark Jacobson talk on the possibility of transitioning the world to 100% renewable. When Mark speaks you can hear his optimism in his voice. You can believe (and want to believe) that it is possible. I’ll admit, he presented some compelling arguments. He said it would take only 0.2% of the world’s land and 0.9% of the world’s ocean surface to house all the solar, wind, and hydro facilities we need. In order to do this we would need to target heating, cooling and transportation sectors of our energy economy. This can be done mainly thought the phasing out of existing coal/oil/natural gas/nuclear facilities as many are coming to end of their lifespan. This is a point where it would only take a little political will and capital to replace those dirty end-of-life facilities with renewables.
He equates this to his personal decision to buy a Tesla. Yes he had to take out a loan to do so, but in the end he will save on his investment and break even. His scientific and rational approach positions him as a rational decision maker that believes politicians that will also make rational decisions.
This is where we differ.
I firmly believe that politicians don’t operate as rational being. You can make the financial or moral justification to them, but at the end of the day it is votes which they are only rational for. Take the Ontario power plant scandal where the Ontario liberals canceled two waste to energy power plants that would be built in liberal ridings. This was despite the millions of dollars that had already been put into the project. This is why I find it hard to believe that politicians will be able to make the changes needed. Perhaps they can’t and that’s why we as citizens need to demand it.
I was also missing the energy reduction argument to present itself during his talk. Many environmentalist make the argument that our current lifestyle is too much for the planet to handle. Thus they argue for a reduction in our consumer lifestyles. We need to shop less, turn off our lights, save water, travel less, have smaller homes, eat less meat, buy local and eat organic. So to hear Mark Jacobson not mention this has me inherently skeptical. You mean we can have our cake and eat it to? However I understand why he didn’t present that argument. It is a very unpopular opinion to have and impossible to convince ordinary citizens. Why should hard working North Americans reduce their standard of living when they’ve worked so hard for it? Despite being an optimist, I have a feeling Mark is pragmatic enough to understand that that won’t fly.
Despite my criticism above, I do believe we need people like Mark Jacobson to help paint pretty pictures for politicians. As he said “we want to be for something not against.” If we legislate that you can only build new renewable power plants, then we are for renewables and not against fossil fuels. His hopeful message is a no-brainer to rally around. He is able to in list celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio to his cause. We need him in the world to help the upper middle class and political elite make decisions. But for the rest of us it isn’t as easy to convert our SUV to a Tesla. I’ll stick to riding the bus.
Forever riding the loser cruiser
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