I am reading Advances in Environmental Psychology, edited by Andrew Baum and Jerome E. Singer and published in 1981. One essay called Encouraging Residential Energy Conservation Through Feedback by Clive Seligman et al. begins:
The seriousness of the energy problem has been dramatically characterized by President Carter, who said: ‘With the exception of preventing war, this is the greatest challenge our nation will face during our lifetime.’
Fast forward to 2007, during the UN General Assembly meeting in 2007, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said something hauntingly similar:
The danger posed by war to all of humanity – and to our planet – is at least matched by the climate crisis and global warming. I believe that the world has reached a critical stage in its efforts to exercise responsible environmental stewardship.
More recently, in November 2008, President-elect Barack Obama on 60 Minutes commented directly about the cyclic tendency of complacency and action when dealing with energy:
(CBS) Kroft: When the price of oil was at $147 a barrel, there were a lot of spirited and profitable discussions that were held on energy independence. Now you’ve got the price of oil under $60.
Mr. Obama: Right.
(CBS) Kroft: Does doing something about energy is it less important now than…
Mr. Obama: Well, because this has been our pattern. We go from shock to trance. You know, oil prices go up, gas prices at the pump go up, everybody goes into a flurry of activity. And then the prices go back down and suddenly we act like it’s not important, and we start, you know filling up our SUVs again.
In some ways, it’s disheartening to read quotes from the 1970s and 1980s and realize just how little we have progressed. However, with the new administration focusing significant effort on clean tech and green jobs to bolster economic recovery, perhaps now is the time that we develop new social norms. Barack Obama, who has no direct ties to the oil industry like the current administration, seems to be more confident in defining an aggressive clean energy policy.
From Earth2Tech:
Cleantech investors are certainly cheering the win — they backed Obama more than 6 to 1 over McCain. That support was due to Obama’s pledge to invest $150 billion over a decade in alternative energy, reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 and introduce a cap-and-trade system to manage carbon emissions.
