Global Warming Fix, how new energy technology is not the answer

Its mid January in Northern Minnesota. The past few days have been steamy by any seasoned minnesotan's standards. The streets have been full of sloppy brown slush and the snowbanks are withering down to a level where one can actually see over them to look for oncoming traffic when trying to make a turn. This January has been a far cry from what I remember from winters past. My tale is not unique...ask the polar bears.

They say the rapid Climate changes are caused by elevated amounts of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere, largely attributed to the burning of fossil fuels for energy. All of a sudden techno-scientists have furiously worked to develop different ways to fuel our demand for energy. Wind power, solar power, geothermal tapping are being purported as the best solution to minimize global warming. In fact overly positive terms have been paired with these types of energy like "sustainable", green and renewable. From the way alternative energy technologies are promoted, one can practically hear the choir singing, a solution has been found. however, these technologies may buy us some time, are not viable long term options.

First, as science is historically and currently imperfect. There are a lot of negative consequences of new technology that are unforeseen. In fact I may even go so far as to say that every new technology has some unpredicted effect that does not serve humankind in any positive manner. In past blog postings, I've have illustrated some of the ill effects of the television as far as it is an emotion numbing, reality distorting cube. In addition, there are a hundred other effects TV has like promoting obesity from long hours of arse sitting, hyper activity in children from flashy images, and the fact that it sucks up a humans free time to the point that ambition and interaction with others becomes impractical. So TV seems to be a no brainer...it has some extreme ill effects which bring to question its value to society, good or bad. Consider another example, one that at first glance may seem benign and innocuous: The Telephone. Benefits the invention of the telephone are evident. It allows a person to quickly contact someone far away, beneficial for telephone to telephone communication. It allows a person to summon help with a touch of some buttons when they might otherwise be isolated. Well...everyone knows how to use the phone and why they use is. Although do you think that Alexander Graham Bell anticipated the extent to which we use phones today and the degree to which they replace friendly visits from family and neighbors.

I was recently at my friends house. She picked up the phone and called her daughter, chatted, for a few minutes, and hung up. When I asked her what her daughter was up to she replied, her daughter was upstairs only 20 feet away. So near, yet so far away. I didn't see the teenage daughter for the entirety of the visit, neither did her mother. First if a conversation or relationship is even worth pursuing, shouldn't a little effort, like walking to see them, be appreciated? When someone goes even a little out of their way to communicate with me, I appreciate it. Phones are too easy, they breed laziness (adding to our obesity) and laziness in our relationships. Also, phones breed a false sense of security about our children and what their up too. There is so much to be said for a real live smile, or a tilt of the head, a furrowed brow. Truly interacting with people really stimulates our senses, our reasoning, and in turn our happiness as humans being that we get to enlist our full faculties. Electrical pulses traveling through a wire cannot recreate the full and valuable communication experience. Not to mention, what parent would notice red eyes, or alcohol laden breath of inevitably sneaky and experimental teenagers? Maybe if we invented a smellaphone...

Anyway, I think the case of techno converstation from parent to youth provides a good example of unintended negative consequences of technology...I could give further examples of any technology you could name. So how does this relate to global warming and alternative energy sources?

In is inevitable there will be negative consequences resulting from wind, solar and geothermal energy, some of which are beyond the capabilities of our imagination. Some consequences are forseeable. Imagine massive fields of windmills operating globally to satiate our unchecked consumption for energy. Would the absorption and alteration of wind currents (or hydrocurrents) alter weather patterns and hamper air flow? It is allready known that windmills affect pose a dire hazard to migrating birds, birds that are intergral to our ecosystem. Excessive use of solar power may also affect our climate and geothermal energy may affect soil and plant growth. Who knows what consequences are in the future. Humans really don't have an understanding of what we are headed for, nor for the consequences and the reach of our actions. However in contrast, we do know our history and where we have been. In retrospect we can see actions, behaviors and technologies that had better results. Maybe we should consider taking a step back to the good old days (at least to some degree). They say hindsight is 20/20.

I realize some will argue that human progress is natural, we can't stop it. But progress can be social and emotional, it isn't necessary that we calculate progress only monetarily and technologically...In fact social and emotional progress is the only way to keep our excessiveness, and consumption within sustainable bound....more on this later.