Two good posts on Worldchanging I’ve been meaning to call out:
Jeremy Faludi makes the important point that control technologies are just as important as efficiency technologies. Control technologies allow us to control energy systems in a more fine-grained way, using only what we need — think occupancy sensors for lighting or continuously variable transmissions for cars. Make room for this in your conceptual toolbox.
Alex Steffen, meanwhile, has an essay grappling with what he sees as the widening gap between our snail-pace, “small steps” reforms on one hand and the cutting edge ideas about a sustainable future that are pouring forth from civil society on the other. It’s worth reading the whole thing. Here’s the conclusion:
Encouraging that metamorphosis is, as the geeks say, a non-trivial task. Indeed, we’re still just figuring out how to do it. But if we can pull it off, we won’t need to hold out to people merely some simple steps or ecological absolution, because we’ll have something better to offer: realistic hope, and a cause worth fighting for.
