Environmental Engineering Reference
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policies designed to shrink carbon emissions will shrink the economy as well. Everybody gets to be
correct—but nobody gets a happy ending (at least as currently envisioned).
That's because nearly every politician wants growth, or at least recognizes the need to clamor
for growth in order to be electable. Because growth, after all, is how we currently define our col-
lective, national happy ending. So whenever facts lead toward the conclusion that more growth may
not be possible
even if our party gets its way
, those facts quickly get swept under the nearest carpet.
Masking reality with political rhetoric leads to delays in doing what is necessary—making the
best of the choices actually available to us. We and our political “leaders” continue to deny and pre-
tend, walking blindly toward environmental and economic peril.
How can we work effectively in a politically polarized environment? Hyper-partisanship is a prob-
lem in approving judicial appointees and passing budgets, and failure to do these things can have
serious consequences. But when it comes to energy and climate, the scale of what is at stake runs
straight off the charts. The decisions that need to be made on energy and climate—and soon (ideally,
20 years ago!)—may well determine whether civilization survives. The absence of decisive action
will imperil literally everything we care about.
Energy is complicated, and there can be legitimate disagreements about our options and how
vigorously to pursue them. But the status quo is not working.
I've struggled to find a hopeful takeaway message with which to end this essay.
Should I appeal to colleagues who write about energy, pleading with them to frame discussions
in ways that aren't merely feeding red meat to their already far-too-polarized audiences, encour-
aging them to tell readers uncomfortable truths that don't fit partisan narratives? I could, but how
many energy analysts are honestly willing to examine their preconceptions?
Perhaps it's fitting that this essay leaves both author and readers unsettled and uncomfortable.
Discomfort can sometimes be conducive to creativity and action. There may be no solutions to the
political problems I've outlined. But even in the absence of solutions there can still be better adapt-
ive behaviors, and judo-like strategies that achieve desired outcomes—ones that could conceivably
turn the tide on intractable global problems such as climate change—without directly confronting
existing societal power structures. These behaviors and strategies can be undertaken even at the
household scale, but we're likely to achieve much more if we collaborate, doing what we can loc-
ally while using global communications to compare notes and share our successes and challenges.
— FEBRUARY 2014
