What do we mean when we say, for a sustainable future?
We have got to get off of fossil fuels. We are killing the planet. We are using coal, oil and gas to power our civilization and unfortunately, this common way of life is wreaking catastrophic effects on the planet. We are using all these methods to power our civilization that are not sustainable, and nobody is seriously talking about this.
Our use of coal, oil and gas is causing greenhouse gases and acidification of the ocean. We are mining. We are drilling. We are fracking. We are doing a myriad of ecological methods of extraction to get the “fuel” we “need”.
Sustainability is based on the premise that everything we need for our survival exists in nature. In fact, it is supported and maintained by nature.
The Solar Biz headquarters and office are completely sustainable. What does it mean to live sustainably? What is sustainable? What is a sustainable (maintainable, supportable) house and way of life.
Living sustainably is living in concert with nature and putting in systems that will provide what you need in your every-day-life using nature to power and enhance these systems. Instead of piping expensive oil or gas over to power your house or your car, the sun can power them.
Living sustainably can include living off-the-grid, or on the grid. In O’bama’s State of the Union address he suggests that for the future we move from a gasoline powered fleet to a natural gas powered fleet. But, we are running out of time to reduce usage. That message is really the equivalent of saying that a dull stick in the eye is better than a sharp stick in the eye.
We are actually beyond the point of simple reduction of fossil fuel. We don’t like to admit it, and nobody actually knows how long this headlong onslaught of the environment can continue before we extinguish life as we know it, but we need to quit usage. We can see what the coal, oil and gas industry thinks about what we should do. 80% of the assets they still show on their books is still underground. If they extracted only a fraction of the assets they now show on their books, it would kill us all.
We really need to quit using fossil fuels and we need to do it relatively quickly instead of bumbling along with the status quo listening to politicians saying we need to do it slowly. The days are over of politicians and coal, oil and gas lobbyists telling us that global warming is a fiction made up by Al Gore.
Sure, less fossil fuel emissions, but why don’t we stop fossil fuels altogether? Why do we have to quit smoking a pack a day and taper down to a half a pack a day, when a half a pack a day is still killing us?
