I suppose we all have our heroes. One of mine is geologist M. King Hubbert, whose works have led me through a career and whatever small contributions I may have made to the science. Hubbert, in recognizing that the period since 1800 has been one of unprecedented exponential industrial growth because of large supplies of available energy, has noted that such growth must be ephemeral and hence is to be followed by a period of nongrowth. He said, in October 1974:
“One aspect of this transition from a state of exponential growth to a state of nongrowth is the present alarm over the ‘energy crisis.’ Actually, the world’s present problems are by no mean unmanageable in terms of present biological and technological knowledge. The real crisis confronting us is, therefore, not an energy crisis but a cultural crisis. During the last two centuries, we have evolved what amounts to an exponential-growth culture, with institutions based upon the premise of an indefinite continuation of exponential growth. One of the principal consequences of the cessation of exponential growth will be an inevitable revision of some of the tenets of that culture.”
Today, behind our rolling blackouts, lurks this ever-expanding cultural crisis that few seem willing to face. In fact, considering that the Sacramento legislature unanimously voted us into the present energy dilemma, one suspects that most are not even aware of the cultural basis of the problem.
What tenets of our culture need revision? Many come to mind, among them: 1), population limitation; 2), reasonable rather than mindless environmental protection; 3), absolute rejection of the liberal plank of compassionate permissiveness over merit; 4), modification of pie-in-the-sky libertarianism to a neo-libertarian version that does not require for its effectiveness a perfectly intelligent citizenry; 5), a conservatism that fearlessly rejects its more radical elements; 6), an abiding awareness of what someone once said (was it Lenin?): “Democracy carries the seeds of its own destruction.”
E.D. Michael