Divest towards a livable future
Stanford University. Norway. Who is next?
This earth we inhabit has for 2 centuries had the great boon of coal to power its technological inventions to get us to where we are now. Colonialism 2.0 would never have been possible without it. Which is precisely why we need to get rid of it. Because those who mine coal, do so under duress, not because they enjoy being paid a pittance to destroy their local ecology.
Divesting from fossil fuels is one of the most tangible ways to move the lever of power from subsidizing programs of power that benefit a minority at the expense of the majority and the earth. It’s sort of like that old bumpersticker:
The same goes for fossil fuels.
But, without being too Pollyannish about the future of divestment (which–may it continue until there is no more money in oil, fracking, and gas, and renewables carry the day (and night)), let us remember a flaw in their policy:
The UN’s Sustainable Development policy in Rio, Brazil clearly stated in 1992: reduce, reuse, recycle.
Hence the hanging question: where is the reduction in energy use on the horizon?
With any energy ‘solution’ must come a German-style reduction policy, so that the states, citizens, and industries are using less resources, that appliances are increasingly (and obliged to be) efficient; that we learn to live more in cycles that resonate with the sun (thereby reducing the need of electricity), and find ourselves increasingly engaged in activities that do not require artificial power, and help steward and support those processes that autopoietically generate power. Like engaging in permaculture to allow life and natural processes (like wind, water, and sun) to do what they do best: generously give free energy and order to this planet.