|
|
Energy Reform and Sustainability
March 30, 2003
by Bill Collier
Often we here of "sustainability", usually in the same sentence we see
something about renewable energy or renewable resources. Sustainable
development is this idea of being in harmony with ecology so that what we
use from nature is naturally renewable and has little to no impact on the
natural environment. Interestingly enough there seem to be two groups out
there who are the loudest advocates of sustainability: deep ecologists who
believe the earth is a living organism and survivalists waiting for
Armageddon.
Sustainability is a very serious matter and should not be the domain of
these groups. The issue of sustainability is a practical issue of freedom.
Having the means to take care of our needs (energy, food, and housing) in a
manner which uses natural resources that are self-renewing and in a manner
that has little to no impact on the natural environment can be good for the
earth or prepare us for Armageddon but the real benefit of sustainability is
increased freedom.
Imagine a home that provides 100 percent of its energy from the sun or air, 70% or
more of your food needs, and all of your household waste recycling needs.
The deep ecologists would be in rapture, the survivalist would delight, but
let us be real; you and I would be more FREE as human beings because we
would be depending less on external resources we have to pay money for.
Such a home, while not immediately practical for all people, is in fact a
very real possibility and provides an example of what we mean by
"sustainability". We desire personal, community, and national freedom from
external controls and what better way to make that happen then a national
policy to promote sustainability?
While we are not opposed, for instance, to drilling in ANWR. However, the long term
solution for meeting our energy needs and freeing us from dependence on
foreign oil is to develop an energy infrastructure that uses renewable
energy.
Many programs for renewable energy are nothing more than a transfer of the
power of government and big business over more traditional forms of energy
to renewable energy resources. What is envisioned by many are large corporate
or government owned wind farms, solar farms, or dams and the like.
We acknowledge that structure creates behavior and if control over such vital
resources as energy, something that if shut off would shut most people down,
is centralized the result will be the further disempowerment of individuals
and communities. Our approach to energy freedom is to decentralize these
resources so that individual homes or small communities/neighborhoods have
and own their own renewable energy resources.
Our agenda is to create, working with private individuals and consumers in a
free market atmosphere, a national policy that encourages the development of
affordable resources that will lead to a more self-sustaining food, housing,
and energy infrastructure. We call this energy freedom, food freedom, and
housing freedom. With such freedoms people can and will be self reliant and
less vulnerable to outside control.
While we do not think the government can or should pay for private people
to obtain these resources we do believe the government can pay for research,
offer incentives for those who do research, and offer tax breaks to
companies that provide such technology as will lead to a sustainable food,
housing, and energy infrastructure that is monetarily accessible to all.
For us this is not about new age gobbledygook or end of world scenarios, for
us this emphasis on sustainability is about the very freedoms our
forefathers fought for and the very ideal of rugged individualism we find so
very well exemplified in Teddy Roosevelt.
It is not our RIGHT to have sustainability, but it is our right to pursue it
and if government is obligated in any way to help its citizens become more
free then government is obligated to encourage the creation of a sustainable
infrastructure.
This begins with energy reform because energy reform is the centerpiece of
any effort to have a sustainable infrastructure. Right now it is possible to
build a very inexpensive home using "sustainable" techniques. The main
problem comes when you try and add the energy resources; these can be
extremely expensive and thus price the individual right out of the market.
Once we achieve a break through in energy sustainability food freedom and
housing freedom will much more readily be obtainable for those who want it.
Our focus is on energy reform: self-sustaining energy resources that are
monetarily accessible to average people so that, like the early pioneers,
they can be self-reliant and not depend on others to meet their own basic
needs.
Article Archives
|
|
|
|
