Today’s society never ceases to amaze me when it comes to its own survival. The majority of people simply do not like the ever-increasing costs of their energy usage. While they may join action groups, send emails to friends and families, and take action on their own in becoming more energy efficient, it’s just not enough.
We tend to view this topic and its many issues through a tunnel-vision lens in that we are more concerned about our own conditions than the much larger, systemic problems which are the root cause. Our political systems are fraught with hypocrisy and completely focused on profitability rather than just doing what needs to be done by changing the manner in which these issues are actually dealt with.
This problem doesn’t affect the the issue of energy usage alone. Just look at how our country decided to deal with the national health issues surrounding tobacco users. Even in the face of damning evidence that tobacco use is a direct cause of cancer in a vastly huge number of tobacco users, our government decided to tax it at higher tax rates into extinction rather than just shutting down the tobacco manufacturers.
This sort of inaction may have for many caused people to quit chewing or smoking tobacco products out of a sense of the sheer economic harm caused but it certainly did nothing for the majority of Americans who suffer severe addiction to tobacco products which were proven to have been tampered with by their manufacturers to increase the products’ addicting properties. If our government is charged with protecting its citizens and that is the measure of their success, then it is safe to say that they have failed miserably in that task where this problem is concerned.
Likewise, our global c
ommunity and its civilization has a big problem with a great many issues that are all contributing to higher CO2 and toxic chemical levels worldwide in our air, water and ecological systems which have always been able to keep our environment sustainably safe. The deforestation of the Amazon is a prime example albeit far from the only major problem we are facing today.
Given that one adult tree in the Amazon is capable of absorbing some 56,000 gallons of water during rain storms as well as remove thousands of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere they continue to clear cut these forests at alarming rates making certain their own demise. Elsewhere on our planet countries are still building coal-fired and nuclear power plants. It it is well known that both of these energy sources provide endless sources of CO2 and nuclear waste which we as humans are not capable of dealing with responsibly in the face of natural disasters —and they pose further threats of epic proportions to our environment.
Despite the glaring evidence that big oil companies simply cannot drill safely, and continue to use equipment that cannot prevent oil well blowouts, we allow them to continue polluting our world’s oceans and waterways, killing one of the Earth’s most bountiful food sources. All of these problems have one common thread which most people in this instant gratification world have come to expect which is their own convenience.
We all know the importance of making changes in our daily lives to use our energy more efficiently while at the same time stating that it is not cost effective or, more to the point, convenient to generate our own power through renewable means (as if they think there is a choice). The inconvenient truth of the matter is that it is not an option if we truly hope future generations will survive on this planet we call home. This inconvenient truth also dictates that regardless of what we decide to do now, the earth will continue on as it always has, but whether or not our global civilization continues on with it will be determined by the choices and actions we make now, in this generation.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) his “New Deal” in 1933 for all of America, which at that time was suffering enormous job shortages and coming out of the economic meltdown of Wall Street in 1929. Our country was also dragged into a war with Japan. FDR helped retool America and through labor unions, he allowed workers a say in the workplace.
The best judge of FDR is not a drug-addicted radio host, but the people who lived at that time, the voters. While many other nations were devolving into chaos or worse, America was a land of hope and optimism. My proof? The 1936 election. FDR won 46 of 48 states. Pretty impressive in the midst of a depression — and he had retooled America in six months!
Speaking out of a sense of responsible action, we do not have a choice in making the move to renewable energy resources on a globally massive scale. If FDR could make all of the changes he made and pull America out of an abysmal collapse, then we can certainly do the same for our world today. 
Yes, it will be costly. Yes, it will mean turning away from the use of carbon fuels for power generation; and yes, it is true that there is no middle ground. There is no “perhaps” or “maybe”. This is something that purely MUST begin now because the inconvenient truth also happens to be that if we do not act, there won’t be much of a future for our generations to come to live in.
Guest Author Bio
Robert Easterling
Robert Easterling is the president and founder of Global Team Direct, LLC which is a renewable energy and energy efficiency systems and services company located in Edgerton, WI.
He has spent the past 30 years as a field service electrical engineer working with power and controls systems for industrial manufacturing. Much of this experience dealt with power distribution and generation of new controls technologies. His personal goal and that of his company is to educate and empower individuals from all walks of life in the implementation of sustainable energy systems such as PV Solar Electric, Solar Thermal, Wind Turbine Generators as well as energy efficiency systems, products and devices.
Blog / Website: http://globalteamdirect.com/blog/
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Photo Credits
All Photos Sourced From Original Article At The Global Team Direct Energy Blog
Slide Show Image From Microsoft Office Collection
First Posted At Global Team Direct Energy Blog On April 4, 2011
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