Cool It.

July 6th, 2008 Posted in Cadre, Invention, Global Warming, Mass Movements

We want to stop and reverse the global warming trend. Our knowledge is limited, there is a risk with any decision, but our scientists, on strong evidence, support this way. The politics of freeing ourselves from the threats of the fossil fuel cartel, and our equally strong commitment to a parallel green way makes our choice transparent. We want to cool it.

There is a swelling of agreement among the peoples of the world on the threat and the need to act. It is an incipient mass movement. The necessary acts required of us and how they are to be coordinated has to become universally clear, and in this task sociologists have a part.

Start with a simple idea of the social order within which this heating-cooling process is taking place.

First, the people (seen as a mass of individuals, families, kin groups, neighbors, circles of friends) whose energy use affects the earth’s temperature.

Second, the technical cadres of scientists, engineers, mechanics, whose willingness to instruct and share with the rest of us provide the concepts upon which we can act.

Third, the governing cadres whose legislation, executive decision, police, and propaganda have had mixed results so far.

Fourth, there is the fossil fuel institution made up of those who benefit from and actively support and work this socio-economic order. The success of this way has been acclaimed since its modern introduction perhaps two centuries back. But now the down side has become obvious and the social edifice and the profits and power and employment and the way of life it represents are directly challenged. They resist, block, obfuscate, confuse and in general do not consider cooling it is the right way. They form the line of contention against the emerging people’s cool it cadres.

So far the fossil fuel gang has continued dominant but with some contrary moves by government, commercial interests, and ordinary people in Europe, Japan and in some U.S. states. But the heavy weight tips in favor of the hots. In China and India the coal powered electric generating stations continue to be built. The world-wide search for fossil fuel accelerates. The beginning of the development in the USA of more efficient combustion engines and cars begun in the 1970s was quickly reversed. The American people actually elected loyal members of the fossil fuel gang to positions of leadership in the federal executive and legislative branches.

Fossil fuel interests in control at the top regardless of the type of political-economic order is shocking, makes the novelist Orwell (Eric Blair) seem even more a genius. Neo-capitalist, neo-communist, and personal dictatorships all belong to the fossil fuel camp. So the possibility of the independent mass action of the world’s peoples is even more critical. With water rising in your life-boat every cup bailed over the side is a valued contribution. Don’t let the captain blowing smoke up his own nose distract you.

Presume the mass movement exists and you are part of it. Let that be the field within which your pro-cool decisions and actions find their larger meaning. Each contribution counts. The sum total of all the acts is the social measure.

So the obvious: electricity is only another form of energy. Manpower and horsepower are still possible. If everyone on earth walks an extra mile we save five or so billion miles worth of transportation fuel. And it is the healthier way as well. Use foot, bike, rowboat, horse or mule as a first step. Reduce the foot-print in the sky.

This is the essential principle: when there is a reasonable choice go alternate energy and go green. The media have been reporting these acts for years. We are well started.

Be aware that energy always comes from energy and we have to evaluate the true cost in terms of energy and not only money. The engineers tell us that the hydrogen fuel cell to power cars is made by using coal. A greenhouse spewing process is required to get a clean fuel. When you see a hydrogen car, think of coal burning.

All garnering of natural energy like moving wind and water and the sun’s rays and the heat bubbling up from under the earth’s mantle requires the use of a prior energy. Sometimes it is a natural ecological or geological process. Sometimes energy is factory made with energy. In any case there is always a collecting cost. In comparing one type of energy against another we have to use this energy metric. This is the possible downside in all of our energy actions. The real cost of any clean energy gain can be estimated by technicians. We all should be aware of this kind of evaluation. The new electric car has to be charged from the grid which continues to be supplied by mainly fossil fuel burning generators. Again a balancing of advantage and its opposite.

We argue incremental change instead of large jumps–not as a preference but as a realistic registering of what is likely to happen. Any one of us who powers his house or business with a solar panel system and gets off the mostly fossil fuel grid has joined the process. Use the more efficient electric tools and gadgets and join the process.

There is a rolling division of labor (everyone who rolls in can play a part) among the institutions where the energy saving and cleaning has to take place–transportation, housing, tools and gadgets, manufacturing, electric power generators. Think of them together as the social system whose product is a rising or a lowering of heat.

In each there is a distinction between new and used. Like in the world of automobiles where the current shift in new production seems to be going toward hybrid and electric or, at the least, toward higher mileage per gallon of gas for combustion engines. This is a fractional change. It is not zero greenhouse emissions (our goal) but an improvement, a step in the right direction.

Meanwhile the millions of greenhouse making older autos continue. They have been part of the heat up and will carry-on their nefarious work into the decades ahead unless their owners act with dispatch. Each of them will have to consider converting his toward a better gas mileage rate if nothing else. Just lowering the weight of a car will help. Take out all unnecessary objects and parts and materials. Less weight increases mileage. Ascertain correct tire pressure to maximize mileage gain. Lower speed while driving. Change driving habits–slower stops and acceleration and deceleration. Improving each used car even a modest amount will sum up to a large gas saving and reduced CO2 emission for the world wide fleet.

It would make sense to find as many kit conversions toward gas mileage advantage or conversions to hybrid or all electric. This will be difficult and complex–each make and model will need its own solution-kit. I would suggest asking each automotive engineering school in the world to select a make and model and assign students the task of developing a reasonably priced conversion kit to reduce greenhouse emissions. These young engineers and mechanics are among our most inventive people and they are sure to find a great number of useful answers.

The mass mobilization will take the form of a constant series of small individual steps facilitated by the discoveries and teachings of our engineering cadres. It is a matter of our decisions and actions moving in the same cool it direction. In part we can bypass any regressive do-nothing governing cadres even though some key changes (like electric generating stations) will still remain with them and associated commercial interests.