Reflections, Observations, and Analyses Pertaining to the Canadian Political Scene
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Energy Democracy
Sure, many will dismiss this as a Utopian socialist dream, especially given the neoliberal tenor of the times, but are there any other viable alternatives to global degradation and destruction?
The magic number, Lorne, is 27. Fossil energy companies have 27-trillion dollars of proven reserves on their books and it's all subscribed on the world's stock markets. This energy democracy platform would burst that bubble, render those reserves virtually worthless, and plunge the world into economic chaos including the collapse of most banks and pension funds. It would take a new political order, a genuinely progressive politics, to implement that sort of change and it would have to be on a global scale. Would you be prepared to kiss your pension goodbye? In this neoliberal era of political capture can you name one government that could rise to this challenge? Can you name enough governments that would create the essential critical mass to sway the others? How many of your immediate family and your closest neighbours would accept this upheaval? Harnessing just a few percent of our daily solar energy would be plenty to provide our clean energy needs. It's all doable but it would require revolutionary change - politically, economically even socially.
Those are all very pertinent questions you pose, Mound, and illustrate the huge challenges that a new energy regime would require. I have no answers, of course, but clearly the glacial pace of change currently underway is far too little, far too late.
The magic number, Lorne, is 27. Fossil energy companies have 27-trillion dollars of proven reserves on their books and it's all subscribed on the world's stock markets. This energy democracy platform would burst that bubble, render those reserves virtually worthless, and plunge the world into economic chaos including the collapse of most banks and pension funds. It would take a new political order, a genuinely progressive politics, to implement that sort of change and it would have to be on a global scale. Would you be prepared to kiss your pension goodbye? In this neoliberal era of political capture can you name one government that could rise to this challenge? Can you name enough governments that would create the essential critical mass to sway the others? How many of your immediate family and your closest neighbours would accept this upheaval? Harnessing just a few percent of our daily solar energy would be plenty to provide our clean energy needs. It's all doable but it would require revolutionary change - politically, economically even socially.
ReplyDeleteThose are all very pertinent questions you pose, Mound, and illustrate the huge challenges that a new energy regime would require. I have no answers, of course, but clearly the glacial pace of change currently underway is far too little, far too late.
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