You want renewable energy?
I am getting totally fed up with the "climate change" debate. Yes, the climate is changing. It is always changing. No, I am not talking about the weather. Yes, I am talking about the climate.
Climate, and science tells me this, has always changed. Whether we can do something about it is something else.
I suspect we can help but Earth - as we know it - won't be around forever.
Yes, okay that's a pretty gloomy outlook. It could be so far in the future that we will have found another place to destroy in the meantime.
What continues to puzzle me, genuinely puzzle me, is that there appears to be no interest at all in one of the most obvious ways to help. Why aren't we planting more trees? Why aren't we planting millions of trees?
It could be done. No, it wouldn't be easy. Yes, it would be expensive - but no more expensive than some of the other projects around.
This state has a "big battery" (think Elon Musk and Tesla). On a recent day we were the hottest city on the planet and using an enormous amount of power. That big battery was supplying just 1% of our power needs. "Renewable" energy was supplying just 3% of our power needs. We have a long, long way to go before renewable energy supplies all our needs and more. The cost of doing it is going to be horrendous. What is more the money being poured into that is money that cannot be put into other things - like planting trees that will make our world a better place to live in.
Recently one of my nephews commented to his mother, "It's so much cooler here." He was talking about the difference between where she lives and where he lives. The difference is simple and obvious. Middle Cat lives in a suburb which has trees, a lot of trees. The local council conserves trees. The streets are lined with trees. People might grumble about the "mess" the jacarandas make but they don't want to lose them. There are many other sorts of trees as well. When we lost one of the massive river red gums on the creek bank near the library there were immediate demands that we plant more trees to replace it. Nothing has so far be done. Why?
Of course trees don't grow overnight. This has to be a long term project. Plant trees now and it is the next generation that will benefit, not mine. I don't mind that. It would be doing something useful and positive and it would actually make a change. If necessary we need to go as far as knocking down a few of the modern boxes we cram people into and planting trees instead. We need to use up some of those awkward little waste spaces and put in trees - or even shrubs. We need to train some of the unemployed and employ them as guardians of the trees.
In the end everyone would benefit.
We are going in the wrong direction with so-called renewable energy. The answer isn't 100% technology. That isn't caring for the planet at all. There are fifteen trees on our small suburban block - and yes, we still have a garden. It isn't enough.
If you can't plant a tree yourself please help someone else plant a tree instead?
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2 comments:
Part of the answer is to plant trees. But that, by itself won't do it. We are using fossil fuels at a rate that both depletes and damages.
Solar - heck you have plenty of sunshine - and windpower are part of the solution.
and then there is consuming less in the first place....
I have two medium sized trees in front of my place - in my tiny garden and on the street. The temperature is significantly cooler under their canopies. I heard that experts who have measured such things claim that a tree can reduce the temperature by 5 degrees. I believe that. I love that many Australian native trees are so well adapted to our conditions that their leaves will catch the faintest of breezes and amplify it with their movement. Not so much with exotics. Have you noticed that is is rare not to have some air movement under a gum tree? I'm all for more tree planting for a better habitat for every living soul.
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