By now most of us have heard the rallying cry “We are the 99%” It’s been more than a year and with the recent election seemingly dividing the country even more, I’m here to find common ground.
Search the web and you’ll find a slew of blog posts with a similar theme to this week’s op-ed; “We are the 100%”. I’m going in a slightly direction with this though. The main idea is the same, stratification doesn’t help achieve the aims of a sustainable society. We must work together. This is not going to be a political diatribe, but I suppose it is a statement. Rich or poor; industrialized or developing; left of center or right; these dichotomies don’t matter in the sense that we share common space that we must learn to cohabitate.
This notion that one party or the other has all the answers will not solve our problems. Working toward a common goal, the long term survival (and ideally thriving) of our society is the only option. As I’ve said before, protecting the environment is a moral – not political – issue. Figuring out economic policies that protect the environment from degradation is integral to our collective survival. A regenerative economy would be ideal, one where excess production from natural stocks fuels the system.
To suggest that one form of energy – namely fossil fuels – will lead us going forward is nonsensical. I know I’ve argued against nuclear power in the past, and that Nick makes the point that nuclear cannot be easily replaced by renewables, but my position is not unlike others’ – we don’t have a way to dispose of nuclear waste. Figuring out this conundrum may put nuclear in play. However, it’s still nonrenewable.
We need to find an energy source moving forward that can do the job we currently expect from fossil fuels. In all likelihood it will not be one singular source, but a mix. We all need this to happen, the 100%. As developing countries look to emulate Western lifestyles, hopefully the good parts and not the concomitant stressors, energy will play an enormous role. We all need to find a renewable source (or two or three) that can power our regenerative economy.
