The Lessons We Must Learn

For the past million years or so, mankind has been continually progressing towards a more efficient and productive society. We look back on our ancestors and note the quantum leaps in knowledge and technology that have allowed us to achieve some of the greatest feats in our modern world. From fire and stone tools to electricity and nuclear reactors, the majority of innovations that we surround ourselves with today have only been fully developed within the last century.

As quickly as we are to build upon the successes of the scientists, engineers, teachers and politicians that have come before us, it seems sometimes we are equally as quick to neglect the valuable lessons that are offered from the failures of past experiments. When mankind is presented with a problem, whether working collectively or independently, the innovative solutions that are offered either revolutionize the way we go about living or cause unforeseen consequences that only create further problems to be solved. In his book “A Short History of Progress”, author Ronald Wright presents a sobering notion; “material progress creates problems that are — or seem to be — soluble only by further progress”. It seems the true nature of progress is usually revealed long after we have fully adopted these solutions into our society, at which point a new solution may be required.

We may be in the midst of another progress trap… as a result of one. One in which I believe we can solve by utilizing the lessons of previous generations and by working together to address the problem as a global community. This progress trap is the energy crisis of the 21st century. While it is just one facet out of the many concerns raised by our changing climate, the need for a more sustainable, eco-friendly energy source takes precedent when discussing ways in which we can mitigate any further damage done to the environment. With the advent of steam-powered machines, coal freed humans from the constraints set in place by nature. No longer was the direction of the wind and power of the tides of as much importance. We were able to continually redefine our limits by creating more powerful engines and machinery, and introduce them to the different divisions of our infrastructure (agriculture, transportation etc). With the introduction of coal, our desire to be free from the limits of Mother Nature only grew stronger. At the turn of the 20th century, the production of oil and gas reared its head and presented humans with a consumable that could be monopolized and employed in almost every industrial sector. From energy distribution to food production, petroleum leaves its fingerprints on almost everything we use today. The call to quickly reduce and cut off our consumption of oil only highlights the dangerous pit that we have dug ourselves into.

Take for instance the food industry. Petroleum based products can be found at every level of the industrial chain from the medicine and food used for the livestock and vegetation, the machinery to tend the land, the distribution of the food across the globe, right down to how its packaged and carried to our homes. To completely stop the production of oil without a proper contingency in place would be analogous to pulling the crucial piece out from the bottom of a pyramid of cards… everything would come crashing down. Now the plan: introduce a distributable renewable energy with the proper means of storage in place to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Let’s look at the dominant means of achieving this plan. Solar and Storage.

This technology is well into its developmental maturity, with new innovations coming out monthly that improve both their capacity and efficiency. Free energy from that fusion reactor in the sky, sounds like a great plan to me. The rate at which this technology is catching on is truly exponential, jumping from a few thousand to millions of users in the past decade [1]. Industries, homeowners and car manufacturers are capitalizing on this move to solar and batteries at an astronomical rate. But I can’t help but pause and ask: Are we not doing exactly what we did with oil and gas in the early 20th century? Creating a huge dependence on a relatively new technology with unforeseen risks and side effects. What risks and side effects? To make solar cells and batteries, you need certain materials. These ‘rare earth metals’ are being mined in countries such as China with little to no safety regulations for their workers or the environment. The cells and batteries themselves claim a relatively long lifetime, but then what? What do we do with the millions, if not billions of panels and batteries that are no longer of any use? Even if these panels are manufactured with a cradle-to-cradle approach, will the cost benefit of harvesting used batteries and cells out-match that of producing entirely new components? We see this issue currently with home appliances that are designed for one-life use (…think printer). With our transition to ‘green’ technologies, we have also been presented with concerns of rapid depletion of these necessary metals in which we make the products. Research is currently being conducted to find alternative ways to create these products, but is it going to be quick enough?

As humans perfected the art of hunting, we unveiled the subsequent result of this behavior, the extinction of over-hunted species. Our escape from this trap, the invention of farming, completely changed the way humans live; from hunters & gatherers to a more civilized, stationary society. However, this in itself has introduced a whole new set of problems today with industrial agriculture and mono-crop farming. With revolutionary progress comes both successes and short-falls, which will inevitably lead to further progress. We need to fully understand the drawbacks and ramifications when pursuing any new technology, in particular, the situation that it will put us in in the years to come.

I strongly believe, that the transition to a society structured around sustainable energy is not only critical but absolutely achievable. Avoiding the current progress trap that led us to this situation in the first place, our dependence on oil, should be of equal importance. Implementing ways in which this technology could be recycled to regain some of the material at the end of the product’s life, while steering clear of sole reliance on any one given energy source. Focus our efforts on numerous methods to satisfy our energy needs and become a truly sustainable society. The analogy of mankind on this planet as an ongoing experiment accurately describes the trial and error process that we have subconsciously employed throughout our past. It is just a matter of truly appreciating these past lessons and using them to our advantage when pursuing any new trials of progress.

Admittedly, I am almost certain that the concerns raised above have not been lost on the individuals developing this technology. I am simply trying to take observations of the past and project them forward, anticipating the resultant outcome of our current behavior. In the hopes of creating a better future for all, I continue to rest my faith in science, engineering and public education.

[1] “Solar Power on the Rise: The Technologies and Policies behind a Booming Energy Sector (2014)”