Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the world's most profitable energy company by scaling solar manufacturing and making
it affordable enough to displace conventional electricity.
On hearing about these friends' efforts, I was facing a fork in the road, and knew I'd
need to choose. Was it better to risk life and limb swinging off cranes and getting arres-
ted,orwasitmoreeffectivetogoinsidethesystem?Ifwereallywantedtoforceaccount-
ability and action, was the best path through continued acts of protest, or was it through
the equally subversive, but less felonious, approach of trying to make friends with our
adversaries? Protest without solution can be quixotic and weak, but solutions without
some sense of justice in their design can actually perpetuate problems. Simple technical
fixesjustaren'tsufficienttoredressthepowerimbalances inoursociety.Iprettyquickly
decided that both approaches are necessary and can be powerful in their own way, but at
the end of the day I realized that whichever tack we might choose, our energy and atti-
tude must remain positive.
Raising an Army of Solarrikins
As I remember the events of 1998, I keep thinking of the Australian concept of the
lar-
rikin.
Look it up and you'll see that the word is usually used to describe an unsavory
sort of hoodlum, scoundrel, or ne'er-do-well. But as the son of Aussies, I know there's
much more to it than that. Larrikinism has come to evoke a tradition of irreverence, a
disregard for propriety, and a willingness to challenge authority—all done with a pinch
of self-deprecating humor and charm and a certain positive energy too, which is one of
the main traits of the larrikin, I believe. People who dare to challenge the status quo
should embrace these qualities—whether swinging from heavy machinery or journeying
into a lion's den of teeth-baring oil bosses, armed only with some DVDs to try to get the
word across that there's a better way to boil water. We need to be courageous, irreverent,
forward-thinking, and—most of all—positive.
Torevolutionizeourenergysystemforthegoodofourcountryandtheworld,weneed
leadersinthesolar-energymovementtobefirebrandsandtroublemakers,passionateact-
ivists and savvy, scrappy entrepreneurs. We need them to be solar larrikins—indeed,
sol-
arrikins!
I've always believed that if you want to change the world, you must first realize that
the world
can
be changed—or, to state it in a more positive way, you have to know that
you
can change the world. I've found that truly great activists and entrepreneurs share
this knowledge. These people have also been willing to rock the boat, allow themselves
to obsess about their passions and goals, and fight their way out of the muck they're sure
to find themselves in from time to time, whether we're talking about a team of college
students set on creating the next big Internet sensation like MoveOn.org or YouTube, or
