Reply #36: I think the problem is deeper than that. [View All]

[napoleon_in_rags]

I don't believe there IS a solution in alternative energy that will fix what ails us, barring a breakthrough in nuclear fusion reactors. Its not the energy itself that's the problem, we have all the energy we need for a good standard of living through renewables. The problem is that our economic system can't work with sustainable resource consumption. The 20th century saw the birth of a financial system based on plentiful energy, and endless resources increasingly exploited. The whole thing is centered on growth, and this is most directly manifest through the concept of credit and debt. Today, most of the wealth in the world is not backed by goods or services, but by the goods and services of future generations: Our children and grandchildren. Our debt to China comes to mind. This would be ethical if we assume increasing growth, if we assume this debt is a pittance of what will be available to future generations. But if its not, the whole thing comes crashing down - and I mean the WHOLE thing.

So that's the problem. Moving to a sustainable economy takes a really deep restructuring of pretty much everything, a tectonic shift in how everything is done. Renewables alone won't support the current system, thus the support for developing them isn't there in the current system.