Friday, September 7, 2007

905 Connections

Message no. 905[Branch from no. 904] Posted by Thomas Culhane (1311520071) on Friday, May 4, 2007 1:55pm Subject: Re: Summary

Connections, that is what drives the world -- starting from fundamental particles (superstrings? quarks, gluons, bosons, mesons... protons, neutrons, electrons, the four major forces, from gravity to electromagnetism, all the way up to molecular interactions and ecosystems and societies -- everything is connected, as Dana's summary makes manifest.

Some call this "the butterfly effect". One thing affects another. But we ain't seen nothin' yet! Since energy ultimately drives all affairs, just wait until the prices of fossil fuels really start reflecting their relative scarcity. Since all transportation relies on them, as does heating and cooling and electricity production and packaging and fertilizers and pesticides and construction materials and and and.... the price of everything will rise.

The solution: invest all the money we have NOW, while things are cheap, in technologies that capture renewable energy resources (sun, wind, water, biomass, biogas) and stop waiting, hoping prices will go down. They won't. Not until we are decoupled from fossil fuels. Then prices will of course go down. But now we must invest and invest quickly. It won't just be mattresses that will rise in price, but even the price of a good nights sleep, knowing we can make it through tomorrow...

Keep those connections in mind -- anticipate the relations and we will do fine!

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