In the recent movie, The Dark Knight, the Joker explains that people don't care about certain things if "it's all part of the plan" of society. If cops, gangsters, or soldiers die, it's not a big deal since they are the people we expect to, but when civilians die it's news and we as society freak. He says that even if the plan is nuts, we are happy because at least we have one. This statement (along with his comment that gasoline is cheap) got me thinking about our global energy situation....because that's what I do.
T. Boon decides to invest in wind, and this becomes news. He said he did it because he is a businessman who likes making money and that the big money is going to be in wind power. But since massive investment into renewables is not the current paradigm, since it's not part of the plan, it's news.
But the paradigm is shifting. Efforts to open more places to drill in the US has become news which means its controversial and that is good. The more society pauses to think about our energy policy, the better chance we have in doing the right thing.
Soon the plan will change. Especially if we adopt Al Gore's new 10 year plan of powering our nation using entirely renewable methods in 10 years (reminds me of another decade plan). Once our paradigm has shifted, new solar plants or wind farms won't be news worthy, except as small articles saying that all is going according to plan.
Then, most of the steps our society will take will be in the right direction. Now we are slowly orienting ourselves that way, taking two steps forward and one step back (establishing RE subsidies and letting them expire). But at least it is better than it was when every step our nation took was one to higher fossil fuel reliance and more environmental degradation.
We are at a point in American Society when we are transitioning from plan to plan. We are on the cusp of a paradigm shift if only we embrace the opportunity. We could stay the course, ignoring all market and environmental signals and go drill for oil anywhere and everywhere we can. Or we could change the plan and solve our fossil fuel addiction.
As the Joker (and the Washington Post) pointed out, things have changed and we can not go back to the way things were. Now we must ask ourselves what kind of a future we want and we must be bold and daring enough to dream of a brighter, healthier, and better future.
Politicians can offer us positive change and help lead us into this bright future, but no one person can bring us there. It must be a collective effort so I will not say that I Believe in Harvey Dent Barrack Obama, but I might be willing to admit that I Believe in The American People.
