An earlier column of mine, titled “An Allegorical Tale,” was written specifically for the Common Sense site. The allegory in question was provided by a single example that epitomized man’s idiotic inhumanity, not merely to man, but to just about any living thing. This current column, also written specifically for this site, is a pre-allegory introduction to a breathlessly awaited publication of Part 2.
Energy, the sort that mankind makes, and uses, every second of every day: what’s it all about? Well, it’s all about Einstein’s world-famous equation quantifying the relationship between the atom-splitting annihilation of matter and the resultant release of a force that we call energy. His brilliant mathematical insight represented the pinnacle of something that we have known, or suspected, for more than 200 years. Namely, that there are really only two tangible things in life: matter and energy. For thousands of years, we have also known that you can use one thing to get the other. A simple example at one extreme is, of course, the burning of wood to generate heat. At the other extreme, and infinitely more complex, is the capture and containment of atom splitting processes for the same purpose.
Then there are the natural sources of energy. Typically, the sun, geysers, wind, tides, and the potential energy released by falling water. And they are all free, folks! Unfortunately, the cost of harnessing these sources and converting their bounty into a form that we can readily use within our existing infrastructure is extremely high---with the possible exception of geysers, but there aren’t many of those scattered around the place! With a substantial negative economic incentive that would logically be expected to block exploitation of these natural sources, readers (assuming there are some) may be wondering why there is so much contrarian activity taking place in the so-called Alternate Energy (AE) field. Answer: Subsidies, those cute little pay-offs that allow AE technology to be marginally competitive with the status quo. And in the AE business, multiple subsidies occur all the way along the business chain, from development to investment to user. If a study exists that adds them all up, then I haven’t been able to find it. Confident in my ignorance, and from what little I do know, my guess is that the total AE subsidy burden on the U.S. economy is in the many billions of dollars.
The amusing irony is that the relationship between matter and energy is a one-way street (once matter is converted to energy, you can’t get it back), so mankind has almost always sensibly “burnt” low cost materials---until now. AE sources are indisputably high-end. So, what gives? Well, unless someone has been in a coma since the last quarter of the 20th century, we all know what gives. Here’s a hint: Take one huge dose of a scare-mongering bogeyman phenomenon and blend in an allegedly causative demon.
And, right here and now, I am going to state categorically that I will not be drawn into a discussion on the global warming bogeyman. That is to say, whether or not it’s real and/or significant; whether or not it’s all due to atmospheric, demonic carbon dioxide; whether or not the role of the many other molecules in the atmosphere is being deliberately downplayed; whether or not we should be taxing all and sundry for continuing to necessarily rely on a carbon economy; whether or not the real warming driving force is the planet’s well known, underlying, cyclic temperature variations; whether or not we should punish---military invasion?, nuke ’em?---countries that cheat on the international carbon reduction agreement; whether or not it’s all the fault of Kim Jong Un and his Pythonesque rogue state; whether or not...whatever!
Then just where is all this stuff leading? OK, the moral of the story is that when you have, or think that you have, a societal problem of unimaginably immense import and complexity, and when force-fitted solutions are simplistically advanced to solve it, then you are creating a fertile breeding ground for all manner of chaotic jiggery-pokery, mumbo-jumbo and fubbery. In Part 2, I will provide a few allegorical examples of what the global warming thingy hath wrought. At this point, I have to stop because all this ranting has generated a great deal of carbon dioxide-rich hot air which is making me uncomfortably warm and sleepy.
