[Grovenet] America's Trillion-Dollar Baby

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

David wrote:

There is a big difference between the two questions, I agree.  And  
that difference is important, because it is possible that "how much  
we need to thrive?" is greater than "how much is sustainable?"  In  
that case we cannot thrive, period.  I happen to believe otherwise.   
I feel that the portion of the world's energy budget that we can use  
on a sustained basis is sufficient for us to thrive as a species.    
It is not without limits.

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I believe humanity will thrive over time too. 

What I observed was that we don't seem to be asking the question "how much
energy do we need?"  If we don't know that, our tendency will be to take all
we can. Indeed, I think that's what we're doing now. 

"How much is sustainable?" is the other side of the question that we are
doing quite a bit of work on, both here in the USA and around the world. 

The problem reminds me of a bunch of people trying to rappel down a cliff
face with only a makeshift rope. One says to the other, "I think this rope
is strong enough. Let's tie it off here, you hook on and start down and
we'll see."

His friend says, "Wait a minute! Can't we test the rope first to see if it's
strong enough before I'm hanging 1000 feet above the bottom of this cliff?"

I'm suggesting we test the rope first rather than hoping it's strong enough.
I think that if we do that, even an approximation, we'll have a lot more
people willing to risk the trip down off the cliff. 

Ron D'Eau Claire