Book Report: The Conundrum by David Owen Efficiency is not always the answer, according to David Owen, in his novel The Conundrum, explains that society is headed in the wrong direction, believing that to be greener we need to make our everyday lives more efficient when in reality we need to change our behavior. As consumers, people want to be sustainable and preserve the Earth while greedily expanding our collection of trinkets. Efficiency can be beneficial, but to make the world a greener one, it is essential for people to change their behavior, not efficiency of the products. The Conundrum describes how in modern times we have come a long way in increasing the efficiencies of cars, air conditioners, trains, airplanes, energy resources, or …show more content…
Natural gas, Priuses, LEDs, hydropower, solar power, burning trash, or improving traffic is not the answer to becoming a green nation. People need to change their behavior in order to change their actions; everyone must take a stand and use cars less, use less electricity, and use less of everything, because less is enough. If we wish to discourage society from using excess energy there needs to be an increase in: prices of oil, electricity, worsened traffic, and denser city populations. There is a way to do this without having the populace revolt: increase the prices of these services or goods nevertheless offering a modest stipend for those who decrease usage. If we truly want to live on Earth for a prolonged period of time, then we need to take care of her but are we willing to change our consumer mentality for the future of our …show more content…
Yes, we hear it every day about the state-of-the-art eco-friendly cars or refrigerators, although what is not explicitly stated are the processes to create those green products. Parts and pieces will arrive at the assembly plant by car, train or plane, which are not always green and contribute to the CO2 emissions, which are damaging the ozone. The only way to be truly green is to not drive an eco-friendly car or to build one. I concur with Owens that going green could be deteriorating the environment in unforeseen ways and one way to correct this demeanor is to consume less. The increase in natural gas and its extraction has plummeted the price resulting in its overuse, which has diminished the interest in renewable energies. Wind is a great renewable source, but just out of reach, literally. The best wind is soaring high above, out of reach, and we do not have windmills that tower high enough to reach the wind that will produce worthwhile electricity. However, I object to his theory that we have reached our limit of resources and innovations. I speculate that we do not know everything and have not created nor discovered every possible answer or resource to the world’s energy crisis. There are still numerous possibilities and crossroads that have not been discovered but could create an energy
In Michael Pollan’s “Why Bother?” Pollan argues that each person can contribute to helping to the environment by erasing their carbon footprints. In my everyday life I experience the choice of driving my car to work or riding my bike. More often than not I choose to drive my car because it is the easier option. I, along with many other people, believe that my individual impact will not cause a larger impact on the global scale. In Pollan’s essay, he makes each person think about the effect they are leaving on the environment and how each person, as an individual, can change his ways before it is too late. Wendell Berry, a naturalist and well-respected and influential writer, was a key factor in recognition of the environmental crisis and how to solve the problem.
The modern lifestyle, full of one time use items and pollution generating machines, is harming our environment, and, without a plan, the death of our planet is certain. Environmentalist and author, Derrick Jensen uses a comparison of possible outcomes to persuade his readers to take action that would help stop climate change; political resistance is his preferred and recommended course of action for his audience. Throughout his essay, “Forget Shorter Showers”, Jensen makes clear his desire to reduce or even reverse the effects industrialization (476-478). He advocates an approach where society makes changes to industry and to government over the current methods of voluntary
...ing scarce. Oil, from which jet fuel is derived, is becoming so valuable because of its so many usages, yet the supply is getting lower everyday and not being replenished. This situation must drive us to the wise use of the oil that is still available and develop technology that can derive the maximum amount of energy from the minimal amount oil used. General Electric has been able to not only reduce the amount of fuel consumption but increase the amount of thrust at the same time. It is encouraging to see the new technology that GE is developing to reduce fuel consumption and contamination produced by their jet engines.
The focus for future gasoline engine development will be on fuel economy improvements through improved combustion
Waste Not, Want Not: if you use a resource carefully and without extravagance, you will never be in need. In a 2009 essay, “Waste Not, Want Not”, writer Bill McKibben argues on the excess of unnecessary waste. To halt climate change, he proposes to convince the reader to shift priorities in waste management and go back to the frugality of simpler times. Bill approaches his argument with a vast amount of informative charged words to convince the reader into taking his side of the argument. The writer’s intended purpose in writing this piece is to make a statement and develop his argument against the unnecessary waste. To make this argument effective, the writer utilizes logic to persuade the audience with overwhelming data and reason. His primary instrument of choice in this essay is using logically charged words followed by factual evidence to back up his claims. Although his use of emotion and pathos are less obvious, but where used, is effective.
The hottest recorded temperature was in 2005 which matched the temperature in 1998. Twice in the last decade we've had the hottest temperature on average ever recorded throughout history. Coincidence. I think not. The snows of the Kilimanjaro have basically vanished and in a couple decades Glacier National park is going to need a new name because by 2030 there will be no glaciers left in the whole park. The great Greenland icecaps are melting at an alarming pace, and sliding into the sea. Your right, who cares it's not like its happening near us. But by 2100 all our coastal states will look like Venice including ours. You won?t be alive but your children and grandchildren will. The sea level is expected to rise up to 23 inches in the next decade. There has been a 100 percent increase in intensity and duration of hurricanes and tropical storms since 1970 according to a 2005 MIT study. How much more evidence do we need before someone does something about this? For anyone who cares at all about the future, the gradual transformation of our earth is turning into a human-furnace that makes terrorism look like a game of monopoly. Think I'm kidding? By 2050, 15-37% of all plant and animal species could be extinct. Meaning it will be harder for plants to produce photosynthesis. No big right? Wrong. Without photosynthesis, oxygen can?t be made. Most of us in this room will be in our late 60?s by then with children and grandchildren. What does that mean for them? The air will be harder to breath and the temperature of earth will have increased by 2 degrees Fahrenheit. By 2050 up to 38% of water will be unable to hold underwater species because of rising temperature.
- Heyne, P. (n.d.). Efficiency. Library of Economics and Liberty. Retrieved April 14, 2014, from http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Efficiency.html
...one strives to use energy wisely, existing resources will last longer. Less damage to the environment will occur.
People can also reduce the use of fossil fuels by doing simple things for instance switching off lights and appliances when leaving the room. Walking or cycling instead of driving a car or use public transport for maybe longer journeys. Little things like this will make a big difference, making our planet a better place.
Don’t you want the trash cleaned up to enjoy nature? Don’t you want the water clean for you to drink? And don’t you want to see the skies clear and blue all the time? If we don’t act now, there might not be a world to save. Go green for the sake of the future.
Thesis Statement: Consumerism is destroying our planet through its excess, but with the help of reducing we may be able to slow the negative change happening in our environment.
"The science of human sustenance is inherently a social science. Neither physics nor chemistry nor even biology is adequate to understand how it has been possible for one species to reshape both its own future and the destiny of an entire planet."(Overpopulation Is Not the Problem By Erle C. Ellis Sept. 13, 2013) Modern technology gives us the opportunity to start an Environmental Revolution. This revolution consists of innovative green technology. Humanity has already taken a step toward this change implementation of solar powered energy and smart cars are only a few examples. The goal that plans to be reached are more efficient advancements of technology, smarter planning both in urban and regional areas as well as policies that support industrial
Fossil fuels are an unreliable and unsafe source for worldwide energy. Our common fuels will run out as in: Ethanol, Petroleum, and Oil. Honestly we need those fuels for life, to drive cars, four wheelers, lawn mowers, and tractors, etc. If we did not have those things anymore our ways of living will drastically decrease. People in our society are so use to driving vehicles that if that gets taken away World War III would start. We use lawn mowers to cut our grass, to keep our land in shape and pretty. We also use tractors for multiple things not only to keep big pastures in shape, but also to use for logging. People do logging for a living. Without tractors their job would be very intense.(conserve-energy-future.com)
In addition, replacing the gasoline with one of the energy could enhance the global warming from the worst consequences. In my opinion, when people use the electric cars, their lives might be simple and straightforward based on the source they use because people can charge the electric cars at home. In the future, people will use renewable energy in their lives and everything might use any sources rather than
...outcompete fossil fuels, but by using different forms of alternative energy fossil fuels use could be reduced drastically. Now is the time for a conversion from fossil fuels to alternative energy.