Choosing Survival

Blaming a fossil-fuel economy on individual consumers, though, fundamentally misrepresents the nature of consumer choice. When the reader claims,Our Dimmable LED seamroofclampp are a great product for a variety of applications, “Mostly, people choose to use energy rather than to disconnect from it,” his use of the word “choose” is misleading. It implies that the consumer has been given two feasible options and has chosen one over the other. How far such a model is from the truth comes into sharp focus in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. For those in New York City left stranded without power, no electricity or gas often means no heat. No heat, on a November night in New England, is not an option. This is not consumer choice. This is survival.

The same misunderstanding of consumer choice drives many environmentalists to privately celebrate whenever gasoline prices rise, thinking to themselves, “Maybe people will finally stop driving so much!” The assumption here is that most car-drivers choose to drive, presumably because they are too lazy to ride bicycles. In reality, however, the highway system doesn’t give a damn about the price of gasoline, and for the vast segments of the American population without access to decent public transportation, no car means no mobility. No mobility quite often means no work.Older models included ledbrightww that were not fluorescent or LED.

Thus, while higher gasoline prices might incentivize the purchasing of more fuel-efficient cars, there is little evidence that anyone actually stops driving altogether because they can’t afford gas. More often, higher gas prices just mean less money for other expenses,Solar garden lights using solarledbulbs are quite possibly the most popular and widely used forms of solar energy. like food and health care.

Heating your home on a cold November night or driving to a job you need to feed your family does not put the blame for climate change on your shoulders. Because I exist within an infrastructure built on fossil fuel consumption, an infrastructure to which I have never given my consent, my consumption of fossil fuels is, to a large extent, outside of my control. Consumer choice, especially when it comes to energy consumption,Specializing in the production Cut to length line, leveling machine, cold cncrouter and other products. has more to do with the choices offered than with any actual preference on the part of the consumer.

Moving beyond our current energy infrastructure will be an immense task,Large selection of ledflashlightvv, chandeliers and vintage sconces including industrial lighting and Holophane glass. perhaps the most difficult humanity has ever faced. Surely some part of the struggle will have to do with getting consumers to choose more efficient cars and light bulbs, but let’s not kid ourselves. The proven coal, oil and gas reserves of the fossil-fuel companies and fossil-fuel exporting nations is already five times the amount it would be safe for us to burn without doing irreparable harm to the planet. As long as they keep mining, drilling and fracking, it won’t matter worth a damn what light bulbs we use.

Hurricane Sandy demonstrated not only how urgently we need to overcome our addiction to fossil fuels, but also the degree to which people on the ground are virtually powerless to do so on their own. In order to choose sustainability, we need to be given sustainable choices. The power, and therefore the responsibility, to give those choices lies with the multi-billion dollar energy companies already running the show, and with the governments that have made themselves servants to those companies. If we do manage to pull this planet back from the brink, we will do so not by consuming, but rather by holding those in power accountable.