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What do you feel is the best way to jumpstart the move toward green energy; therefore moving away from fossil fuels?
We know doing this sooner rather than later will be beneficial. How do we push this along and not wait until we must do to a lack of fossil fuels?
Responses are due no later than Monday at 11:59 p.m.
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19 comments:
I think it is extremely important to make environmental education based on the direct effects it has on humans. We can't just expect people to make changes without providing them an incentive or motivating factor. People only make changes when it effects them. Education should not solely be centered around "pollution is bad for the environment" ideas. Comment on how destroying natural resources affects the economy, or how sustainability plays a key element in our fight to convert to green energy. Money is also a huge motivating factor. The government should provide subsidies to both car manufacturers and scientists in order to jumpstart the transition. The realization that we can't always rely on one source will always lead to new innovations. You could also push for legislation that would begin to phase out gasoline powered cars and force companies to tansition to producing electric vehicles. Companies also don't care what they produce, so long as it is profitable and consumers are buying it.
I agree with Sammy that we have to educate and enforce how important the environment is to people and our way of life. By doing this the push to change to green energy will come from the masses, if we show them the negative ways this can affect them. Individuals taking action with their money is the most effective way to show that green energy is supported by everyone and to convince, economically, companies to use green energy and be more eco-friendly. The government is the other way to jumpstart the process. If this becomes a priority for the US government along with governments around the world, legislation can allocate money to research and production of efficient vehicles or power plants. A combination of the drive from the government and the population can begin this transition.
I agree that education is a very large step, but it should be combined with government mandated support. The average Joe six-pack doesn't car how much their car impacts the environment in a lot of places, as long as it is cheap. I think government support is the way to jump-start the green movement. If there is a well organized program that appeals to people enough so that it can't be shut down by oil companies, then it can't be stopped. As to how to push this progress along, I think that we should place a tax on gas and use the proceeds to fund government research. This would benefit the American public, reduce our consumption of fossil fuels, provide funding for alternative energy sources, and lessen the dependence of oil.
I fully agree with the past comments that educational and governmental incentive is crucial for jumpstarting green energy. Most people already know that we need to change our way of thinking towards energy, but programs and some serious help and motivation is what we really need to get people moving. We also need to create different programs for different areas of people (ex; using solar panels on houses in very sunny areas rather than very wet areas.) If we create programs that benefit everyone specifically, and will greatly affect their wallets in a positive way, that will only create more incentive for people to choose green energy.
Understanding that there is a problem is probably the key first step in transitioning to green energy. I can think of handfuls of people who know global warming is a problem but don't really connect that to the fact that they drive everywhere in big cars. So yes, knowledge is the first step.
The pessimist in me thinks that this isn't really going to be a very plausible transition, however. As long as there are major oil corporations profiting from fossil fuel use, I don't think that green energy is going to become a huge sensation because they'll do what they can to stifle the movement. As we saw in the video, we have had the technology to create electric cars for more than a decade, but we haven't because of these oil mongers. So I suppose we'll have to wait until the money lies in alternative energy and not in fossil fuel, which I am confident will happen. The only difference is timing. I do have some faith in Steven Chu though, so maybe he can help speed up the process.
So, fossil fuels are so institutionalized into society that it is impossible to have a complete overhaul and start using alternative fuels. Also, the technology is not in place. This being the case, small steps need to continue to be made towards a greener future. what would be most beneficial is for the government to provide grants and bonuses to scientists who develop greener technologies, enabling them to find cheaper, better ways to produce energy so that these alternative sources can compete with fossil fuels.
Rhinomcjesus is Paul, if you didn't pick up on that.
After understanding the problem, the most important thing to jumpstart the move towards green energy is education. Letting people know what the problem is, what are ways to help it, how these ways will work...People arent going to do anything if they don't know what to do. So the first step is letting them know. Education will also make this push happen faster because it will become evident to people.
Spencer Kelly & Ryan Ades
I think the best way to help move the world to green energy sources would be forthe government to fund additional research in alternative fields. We already have most the technology needed to supply energy alternatively, its just finding a cost-productive way to do it. Once we find a balance, government should regulate and cut back on current fossil-fuel consumption and slowly replace it with green alternatives. If we research this "replacement process" enough it should be a smooth transition, this way we will not have to encounter the threat of dwindling fossil fuels.
I believe that the first step into "jumpstarting" towards green enery is recongnising that there is a problem first. Maybe scaring people into learning what the future will be like if there is no change toward a green future will ultimatly allow people to make more responsible choices when it comes to energy and conserving it. I think that utilizing the energy alternatives that we already have could help in conserving what little fossil fuels we have left. I think that people already know what needs to happen to evolve into a greener society however I dont think that they have to motivation to actually try and fix it.
The first step into getting started towards green energy is eduaction. People need to be informed on the issues and what we can do to fix it. If no one is educating people on the issues, no one is going to know what to do and how to fix the situation. I also agree with Hannah when she says that we need to scare people into finding out what the future will be like if we don't start using green energy.
I think the jumpstart needed to move toward green energy could be achieved through government action. This will only happen if the politicians in office feel that enough people would support their decisions to get them reelected. Because of this, the majority, or at very least a plurality of people would have to be behind the green energy movement. As for what action would be taken by the government here are some suggestions: further research into alternative sources of energy as well as the increased fuel efficiency for vehicles, subsidies for companies producing green energy or vehicles that do not burn fossil fuels, and to somehow find a way to increase the price of energy so that consumers would be inclined to use less energy. Ultimately no changes will be made until the people want them to be made, so we may very well end up waiting until we absolutely have to abandon fossil fuels, no matter the developments in green energy technology.
The most important thing is making a move towards green energy national instead of within small communities. The movements and actions themselves can be, but creating legislation that requires a better understanding of environmental needs, a change in our habits as a nation, and a change in the products we use from day to day would hopefully work just as well as laws against the harrasment of animals and people. Education is a huge part, if people are being taught about global warming and the destruction of our planet by people who don't believe what they're saying that's not going to change anything. We need a stricter and requred teaching of the knowledge about the envirnment.
It is extremely important that people are educated about the effects of their energy consumption and the reality of depleting fossil fuels. However, it is necessary that we move forward towards greener energy before such widespread eductaiion is possible. Ways of doing this are implimenting green communities and puting research into action. The electric car is an example of research that has been made that is not being used as a result of corporate selfishness and man's geediness to make money within the economic system set up that greatly revolves around doignso. I heard a statistic that id we were to tack two degrees off of our highest temperature we heat our houses to and two degrees off the temp. that we cool it to, our energy bills could be nearly half as much. This type of education could have a great impact while still using fossil fuels. America's energy consumption for air conditioning alone is equal to all of the energy consumed by China in a year! there are simlpe sacrifices that coukld be made to greatly benefit the planet.
I agree with a lot of the responses above, but what I think could make a real difference is not just government funding and support, but also use. I mean, think back to segregation or even the women's rights reform. They changed the way America viewed sexism and racism by first changing the government's way of viewing it. They desegregated government buildings like schools and post offices and both desegregated the army as well as began to let women in. I think that if government run/government supported institutions are made eco-friendly, even a little like just using energy efficient light bulbs, that would make a big difference. Imagine every public school, post office, government building with eco-friendly light bulbs. For one, it would up the economy for energy efficient products and as Mr. MacDicken stated, we vote with our dollar, not to mention that would drive the price down, sending demand up. It would also be a great way for the government to practice what they preach and be a good role model for the American people, as well as people around the world. I also agree with other posts. I think education is also another major factor in jumpstarting the shift towards green energy and that government subsidies or tax cuts to also bring about change are great ideas.
Part of the problem with moving from fossil fuels to something cleaner is all of the current automobiles in the world that run on gasoline. It would be ridiculously expensive and wasteful to make a new "clean-green" car for everyone on the planet. Some places around the world are just starting to adapt and use cars, so to tell them that their HUGE investment in transportation is a waste and they need to buy a new car with a fuel source they probably don't have readily available would be silly.
I suggest we create a car-recycling program, where if you have a standards-met car, you can trade it in for an advertisement covered car, for free. The advertisements would cover much of the recycling costs, and not many parts would be wasted, just re-used. We can create many new jobs, too, like making these new cars, scrapping old cars, building new fuel stations, advertising, etc. If people think the advertising on their car is annoying, they can pay a fee (like the price of buying a new car) and have the ads taken off.
It would take lots of hard work, but the outcome would not only help the economy, but the future of the Earth.
Also, education is important, so once this new infrastructure is set up, our children won't fall back into our mistakes.
Now, for creating electricity for general use (households, industry, farming, etc), we should re-invest our money spent on processing fossil fuels into all different kinds of eco-friendly energy sources. We should not, however, pick the "best" energy alternative, for different types of energy would be more suitable in various places. For example, we would not want to pick solar energy as our ultimate energy source, because in many places in the world, the sun is not constantly available. In those places, another option, such as hydro-electric, nuclear of wind would be far more efficient. That way, we would not have to waste energy transporting energy.
Really, just put our class in charge, we'd be okay.
As everyone should know, money is the motivating factor for everything in life. Humans are greedy. Even though I am educated about the harmful effects to the environment, I'm not ACTUALLY going to change my evil ways unless it saves me a few bucks.
Therefore, it could be considered the government's responsibility to come up with a plan to move us from gas to other fuels.
Zach's car recycling idea was something to think about. Except perhaps you could trade in your oil-using car for money towards a solar (or whatever)-powered car.
The best way to jumpstart the move towards green power over fossil fuels is to vote with your dollar, the more people convert to green energy now, despite the higher cost, the more will be produced and the cost will begin to shrink and it will become more desirable than fossil fuels. Not only because it is the same price, but for the satisfaction of knowing that their source of energy is infinite.
Most of the responses to this weeks blog include “education” and “government money” in the plan to move toward green energy. While I do think that both of these should have a crucial role in jumpstarting the change, I feel there needs to be more elaboration as to exactly how people will be educated and exactly where the money will go. We can’t just say that we will educate people on environmental issues and that it will create enough awareness to make a change. The sad truth is that most people today read/hear about major environmental issues, such as the negative effects of our dependence on oil or the limited supply of fossil fuels, learn the facts, then think to themselves “oh, that sucks,” and they move on with their lives. This is something that I and everyone else in our environmental science class has been guilty of, I guarantee. The missing piece between this awareness of something being wrong in the way that humans are doing things and the actual transition toward greener energy practices is motivation. As far as I’m concerned people can be motivated to do things by a) money and b) really good ad campaigns. I think if governments were to provide money for extremely well-funded and uniquely-designed international advertising, the transition toward greener energy usage would slowly, but surely, become a higher consideration for the many people who today’s environmental ads do not reach or appeal to. As for motivation by money, I think it would be smart for the ad campaign to save a large portion of its space for advertising government incentives for eco-friendly practices. These incentives can be as generous as giving tax cuts to owners of environmentally safe cars or as subtle as putting cheaper prices on eco-friendly appliances once the demand for said appliance is high enough to do so.
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