Nature and Society

Editorial - October-November 2005

Looking at pictures of would-be escapees from Hurricane Rita stranded on freeways choked with stationary cars, I wondered what was going on in the escapees’ minds. They would have felt fearful, frustrated, impotent and probably angry that with our modern technology and apparent power to do what we want, they were actually helpless.

As Dr Johnson wrote, imminent execution concentrates the mind wonderfully, but on what? Is it fear of the unknown or the threat of eternal punishment? Is it repentance and prayers for forgiveness? Is it anger or plans for escape and vengeance?

So the increasing price of petrol and uncertainties of supply are concentrating the modern mind wonderfully, but again, on what? Many people concentrate on the need for government to reduce the price of fuel. Others concentrate on alternative fuels, especially ethanol. Some people are concentrating on buying fuel and cutting back on other expenditures. Other people are, at least, doing something useful, such as driving motor scooters rather than cars, or using public transport.

You will notice a prejudice in that last statement. Cutting back on petrol use is a wise move: advocating ethanol is not. Why, especially when the Australian Medical Association is advocating ethanol/petrol blends as a way to reduce air pollution?

There are various arguments against ethanol use, some trivial, some certainly amenable to technological solutions. Certainly Brazil seems to have conquered the technical problems and has produced vehicles that can run on petrol, ethanol or any blend of the two.

The case against ethanol is far more serious. Ethanol is produced from crops that, by the way they are grown and harvested, are big consumers of the very energy the fuel is intended to conserve. There can be little energy profit in this transaction when the fuel inputs of fertilisers, planting, harvesting transporting and processing are taken into account.

There probably is a place for biofuels in the future, but it will be on a small, localised scale, producing fuel from crop residues or even from recycled cooking oils. Bio-engineered algae grown in tanks, requiring only water and sunlight as inputs, are another possibility. But such biofuels will need to be reserved for essential services, not for running around in ever expanding circles as is our current wont.

However the present oil crisis is a wonderful opportunity to get governments, businesses and private individuals to concentrate their minds on a solution to a whole range of problems that are as serious as would be our own executions. What everyone needs to recognise is that it is not a temporary phenomenon. There may be fluctuations, but in general oil supply is going to go down, and prices up, from now on.

Everyone needs to realise how intrinsic petroleum is to our modern way of life, and the disruptions and disasters that will be caused as oil runs out. For those readers who did not take a great deal of notice of the four central pages in the August/September issue of this journal, go back and read it thoroughly. It was designed as a lift out or pamphlet, and copies can be ordered from the office. It pointed out that nearly everything we do depends on oil to some extend. If its decline does not concentrate the collective mind, goodness knows what will.

That concentration must not be on temporary relief or quick fixes. We need to reorganise everything pertaining to our lives. First and foremost we must practice energy efficiency and invest heavily in it. We must invest in and promote all the solar technologies including wind generators. We must design and use buildings that do not waste energy or water.

Furthermore we must change our mindset, so we stop thinking of ‘energy saving devices’ that use fossil fuel to save our own, and instead use our energy to save fossil fuel energy. This would have immediate benefits for much of the population. It would reverse the race to obesity as people used their muscles more, providing much needed weight training and aerobic exercise. It would reduce air pollution and oxygenate the body, thus helping to keep us healthy.

We must hope that the devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina concentrates the minds of Americans and particularly their Federal Government on the dangers of climate change. The effects of a warming world will be many. The list goes through extreme weather events, the salinisation of coastal aquifers, the drowning of cities and farmland, increased disease for humans, the alteration and destruction of many habitats, the loss of many species of plants and animals and much more.

October - November 2005 edition accessible here

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