Editor,
When you resort to strawman arguments, you’ve lost already. The only people advocating deindustrialization to address climate change are those who insist that we must continue to use 19th century coal and 20th century natural gas instead of 21st century solar and wind.
In 60 years, I’ve seen one prolonged power outage. Our electric system used to be sufficiently reliable without natural gas backing it up, and it will be again. Many of the areas affected by the electric outages also experienced gas outages.
We can lead the way for China and India or we can follow them. Coal burning in those countries already seriously reduces productivity, and they are moving rapidly to renewables.
Alternative energy is cheap and getting cheaper. It’s also reliable. When was the last time you experienced a prolonged period without the sun shining, the wind blowing or the rivers flowing for a thousand miles in any direction? We will be deploying renewables for the next 30 years and will have plenty of opportunity for further improvements.
Soylent Green was a cautionary tale about using the Earth unsustainably. If the Palo Alto City Council watches it, they will be strongly encouraged to shut off the gas and avoid that dystopia. Predictions based on science are often correct. Want to bet on whether or not the next Mercury transit starts Nov. 12, 2032, at 6:41 a.m. in London? Predictions that we actively work toward also tend to be correct. Â
Chuck Simmons
Redwood City
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(1) comment
Chuck - if there were a contest for the most unhinged article of the year, you would be a clear winner. As far as I know, but I have an excuse because I am a Republican, the sun goes down every day and we do not have a lot of wind all of the time. Where do you get the idea that such renewable sources are cheap, reliable and can provide the required energy needs in our society? They are a component of the energy supply mix but will never be able to reliably displace fossil fuel-based electric generation, unless you live in Berkeley.or Palo Alto of course. Their politicians seem to have it all worked out.
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