Renewable energy, renewable destruction?
We ought to put up a wind turbine on or near campus to supply more of our power through renewable energy sources: this was the general consensus after a conference on the subject was convened in Grinnell a few weeks ago. I agree but with reservation. My idealistic side says that the environmental crisis is a crisis of the human soul and wind energy is, at best, prozac. My practical side doesn't think much, let alone about wind energy. It goes about living mostly by habit and always within the bounds of my chosen lifestyle. Which brings me to my point: real environmental change requires lifestyle changes, changes which can be joyous and healthful. This is different from the numerical environmentalism of efficiency and sustainability. Humans don't have an organ for truth, said a wise dead german, much less one for quantifying what makes life worth living. Environmentalism can do much to threaten those that want simple economic notions of "good" by externalizing immeasurable impacts on our souls; indeed, it is the most powerful social critique available. Social change is needed in which we collectively awaken from the extractive cult of comfort and mobility and engage in the miraculous reality of human life on Earth. Our future may rely on wind but that fact barely scratches the surface of the matter.