Being 100 percent renewable and green is good, regardless of
whether you believe in climate change. It solves our energy
problem, puts people back in control, and gives us a
cleaner, safer, healthier environment. Dr. Mae-Wan Ho
Launch of Green Energies - 100% Renewable by 2050 [1], 25
November 2009, Jubilee Room, House of Commons, Westminster,
London, UK.
The presentation can be downloaded here (PDF of the
powerpoint presentation)
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/onlinestore/lectures.php#291
Power to the people in all senses of the word
We are thrilled to have such strong recommendations for our
report. Alan Simpson MP, special advisor to UK Secretary of
State for Energy and Climate calls it [2] “a road map for
survival” and “the get out of jail” card for Britain and
many other countries for avoiding “climate chaos”. Chee
Yokeling, Director of Third World Network, says [3] “it is
just what world governments need to renew their commitment
to the UN Convention on Climate Change.” That alone tells us
there is nothing to divide the peoples of the developed and
developing world as far as renewable energies and saving the
climate is concerned.
What we need is to restore power to the people in all senses
of the word ‘power’, through a commitment to 100 percent
renewable energies by 2050. This is realistic, much more so
than the non-renewable options favoured by the UK and other
governments, and much more affordable.
Renewable energy is inexhaustible energy that does not run
out. Moreover, it is free; once you install your own
equipment to capture it, no one can meter it, if you don’t
want them to, or cut off your supply. It is in principle
available to all, so there is no need to fight over it. We,
the people, are in control.
Being renewable is not enough. It has to be green, which
means also being environmentally friendly, healthy, safe,
non-polluting, and sustainable. Sustainable needs more
comment as it has been hi-jacked too often to mean just the
opposite.
Being sustainable is to endure for hundreds or thousands of
years like natural ecosystems, thanks to a circular economy
of reciprocity and cooperation that renews and regenerates
the whole [4] (The Rainbow And The Worm, ISIS publication).
It is just the opposite of the dominant neo-liberal economy
driven by competition and exploitation that has brought the
planet and its inhabitants to the brink of irreversible
catastrophe, not to mention the actual financial collapse
[5] (see Financing Poverty, SiS 40).
Therefore it is important to modify Bruntland’s definition
of sustainability as follows: to use natural resources
responsibly and equitably, to meet the needs of all in the
present without compromising the needs of future generation.
This makes sense, as truly green and renewable energies are
freely available to all in any case.
Unfortunately, our political leaders are overwhelmingly
blind to these simple facts. They are committed to the neo-
liberal paradigm, and held to ransom by big business. Truly
green renewable energies that give power to the people do
not leave enough profit to satisfy greedy big business!
That‘s why the Copenhagen summit is collapsing before it
begins. Big business and big governments are fighting people
to prevent them taking power, and fighting one another to
get a larger slice of the power pie.
Read the rest of this article here
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/PTTP100PCR.php
The presentation can be downloaded here (PDF of the
powerpoint presentation)
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/onlinestore/lectures.php#291
Other lecture downloads are available here
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/onlinestore/lectures.php
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This article can be found on the I-SIS website at
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/PTTP100PCR.php
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