Energy Consumption, Global Warming & Go Green Movement

Global Warming – Impending Catastrophe or Infinitesimal Concern?

by George A. Miu

Every educated man and woman, it appears to the casual observer, has some opinion on the topic of global warming and the long-term effects that it will encumber us with. Being lads of an explorative and polarizing nature, Neal and I could not help but step into this sometimes-maddening debate and cast forth our own theories…

… which is really fortunate because I have not the foggiest notion as to whether or not global warming is true or not, and how it will affect us if it is. It might sound simple or silly, but I haven’t read the data, have not seen any of the experiments, have not spoken to any of the “experts”, and have encountered so many faux-connoisseurs that I would most likely miss a legitimate specialist in the field anyhow.

Nevertheless, I do have some faculties I can employ in my plodding trek through this treacherous territory. I can logically infer that increased energy consumption leads to global warming, or that it does not. Correspondingly, the inference that, if the former is true, “going green” will either yield improvements or it will not.

The easiest statement to tackle is that increased energy consumption does nothing to our planet. If so, then all the green movements are for nothing – which is okay, because I see nothing wrong with decreasing the amount of energy we use; it is, after all, less wasteful anyhow.

If the whole spiel is not a masquerade, then something must be done about it, provided we do not opt to slowly roast ourselves into water vapor over the years. If going green doesn’t actually alter the course of rising temperatures all that much, then you can wave bye-bye to the planet and flirt with the notion of immigrating to Venus, because it won’t be all that different from here soon enough.

Now, we can start thinking about how best to implement this whole “Go Green or Watch Our Beloved Rock Die”. But what is more worrisome is this: human beings crave improved lifestyles and luxury. Someday, the global economy will be developed enough to provide the upper-class American lifestyle to every person on Earth. That much is inevitable, whether it happens in 2020 or in 3030. But when it does – there’s roughly six and a half billion people who want to drive cars, live in five-bedroom mansions and keep the AC on twelve months a year. So, unless we want to start selling mildly inconvenient “green” technology to China, we better throw something together that looks and works just like the high-consumption product we were intending to replace. This has not happened yet; at least, not in every walk of life.

So let’s hope that green technology evolves faster than the global economy. If it doesn’t, we won’t live to see six billion Mustangs roaring around.

Food for thought.

Energy Consumption, Global Warming & Go Green Movement
Personal Analysis
by Neal R. Karski

Energy Consumption

The world, at a very rapidly increasing pace, has been consuming more and more energy, whether in form of electricity or crude oil. The growth of technology, use of computers, vehicles and communications medians have drastically contributed to these statistics. Although, we are clearly aware of such facts, most of us have a narrow understanding of exact effects energy consumption had or has on economics, environment, health and business. And some of us just don’t care to put the effort into obtaining such knowledge. Ever since the industrial era the United States, as the leading consumer nation of the world, has towered over every other country in the energy usage by unimaginable margins. It is even sad to say that many of the planned policies to reduce this phenomenon have been vetoed or simply disregarded by the officials who have been majorly lobbied by the corporate oil, gas and energy giants. To this day, the research of alternative sources of energy exists, yet the resolution is yet to be seen and fully put to use. But some may say “Let the mother nature suffer a little bit.”

Global Warming

The subject of global warming has been brought to attention quite often in the recent years as the U.S. politicians debated over environmental policies and European leaders attempted to congregate in hopes of improving the issues tied in with carbon emissions and toxicity on our planet. It is clear that with the increased vehicle and factory usage, we have significantly escalated the levels of carbon, exhaust, and toxin emissions into the atmosphere. Although, when looking at the temperature levels and their historical trends in different climates, it is very arduous to notice any suspicious or worrying data [that would lead us to the definite conclusion of existing global warming]. No, I am not claiming that the global warming probably is surreal, but it definitely is a long run issue. This means, it concerns our future generations and the future of our planet. We have already dug ourselves into the biggest stage of progress, and therefore environmental deficiencies. Health should be the biggest current concern, as the potential hazards tied in with carbon emissions, smoke fogs, toxins, acidic rains, etc. are and will affect the lives of many people on the global spectrum.

Go Green Movement

On a final note, I would like to express a couple observations about the Go Green Movement. It is true that the E-commerce platform and the Internet network have allowed for better, faster and more efficient usage and transfer of information. I must say: the thoughts of saving rain forests, allowing for more vegetating plantations and oxygen production do seem very pleasant and reasonable. I also hold great regard and appreciation for many new innovations that have given us the power to choose whether we’d like to “Go Green” or not. Therefore, it appears that the movement itself is a matter of choice. It is also a question of social vs. self interest, to some extent. Recycling, waste separation and efficient material production are all necessary steps in order to improve anything, sort of environmentally speaking. We have seen progress, but is it enough to make a difference? Personally, I believe the Go Green Movement will never be successful until it is utilized and executed in a collaborative effort of the whole society, or the world. Example… Does a service-provider show an honest concern for the environmental well being by giving you the option to choose between paper bills and electronic bills? Or is it just plainly a financial scheme to cut down on costs and accelerate their profits? Where does the company’s interest lie? Where does yours?

All of the above are globally very open to debate.