Greenwar Relevance

L.L. Bean does =not= stock a replacement.

Why is this book relevant?

One: alternate energy sources are becoming increasingly important.

Third World countries, especially in Asia, are rapidly industrializing. As these nations grow they create a huge new demand for energy. China's energy needs, for instance, now outstrip those of the US.1
Fossil fuels—oil, coal, and natural gas—will not be enough to meet this increased demand. Reserves worldwide are already being depleted. This year, for the third year in a row, on a worldwide basis, we have been using more fossil fuel than we discover.2 In other words, the known sources for fossil fuel are now shrinking. This trend can only worsen (remember the fuel shortages of the 1970s?). Fossil fuels are a nonrenewable resource; once used, they’re gone forever.
Fossil fuels contribute to global warming, resulting in destructive changes to the Earth’s climate. The IPCC (an international, UN-sponsored body whose charter is to track climate change) issued a report in 1995 that confirmed most climate researchers’ consensus: global warming is now under way. Eleven of the last eighteen years, 1979 through 1996, have been the hottest on record since global temperatures started being recorded in 1866. 1995 was the warmest yet.3
Global warming is predicted to cause catastrophic coastal flooding and the obliteration of island nations; widespread destruction of valuable natural resources—temperate and tropical forests and their inhabitants, and ocean species as well—as plant and animal species are unable to adapt to changing environments; and drought in areas like the Midwest, America’s grain belt. This disruption creates a cascade of effects, including worldwide food shortages and famine. 4
Fossil fuels contribute to air pollution, endangering the health and well-being of society’s most vulnerable: the elderly, the sick, and the very young. Pollution-linked ncreases in illness and death have been found even in cities with air pollution levels deemed “safe” by EPA (i.e., in compliance with national clean air standards). 5
Congress enacted major new clean air laws in 1990. These laws are quietly being phased in all over the country, but they will have a dramatic impact. Cars in polluted areas (e.g., LA, Houston, most of the eastern seaboard) will be required to emit far lower levels of pollutants. Alternate technologies are needed to comply with these laws.6
Exploitation of alternate energy sources is already on the rise. For instance, wind power generation is now the fastest growing energy industry. In 1995, wind power grew at a rate of 32% (nuclear power, by comparison, grew at less than 1%, and coal combustion hasn't grown since 1990). In windy regions it is now cost-competitive with traditional energy sources.7 This growth trend can be expected to continue, for wind and other alternate energy sources-solar, geothermal, and ocean thermal.

Two: the face of corporate America is changing.

Megalithic, multi-thousand-employee corporations that produce hard goods such as refrigerators are not the future of the American corporation. The nation’s business base has shifted: along with a growth in high-technology industries (e.g., computer hardware and software) and service industries (e.g., the entertainment business), small businesses of all kinds are becoming very important. Most people now work for a very different kind of company than they or their parents did even fifteen or twenty years ago: smaller, more resilient, more environmentally aware, more technology-based.8
Unlike traditional power plants, which use coal, natural gas, nuclear, and fuel oil, the new energy technologies—wind, solar, geothermal, and ocean thermal power—are better suited to this new, more flexible, resilient, and visionary type of corporation—which is better able to build its business where the energy source is (i.e., you can’t transport the wind or water to the plant; you have to go to it).9

Three: the ocean is a critically important—and threatened—resource.

Of the world’s seventeen major fisheries, which produce the world’s seafood, fifteen are being over-fished and fish populations are in decline. Four are in serious to critical condition, with fish catches plummeting to dangerous, possibly irrecoverably low, levels.10
The world’s population is currently five and a half billion, and is expected to double in the next fifty years.11 To feed this huge populace—especially with land-based food sources endangered by climate change—the sea’s harvest will be required. Solutions to declining sea life and over-fishing are urgently needed. Ocean- based research will help solve these problems.

GREENWAR explores the challenges these issues raise.

Notes

The Worldwatch Institute, Alerts and Press Briefings - 1996.back to text
Telcom with JGanzi, President - Environment and Finance Enterprise, a consulting firm that specializes in the intersection of environmental with financial/business/management issues - Jan 1997.back to text
From lots of news sources, including The Worldwatch Institute, State of the World 1996.back to text
Ibid.back to text
Science News article - late 1995/early 1996 (awaiting verification of date).back to text
The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, Titles I-IX: one of the most comprehensive and stringent set of environmental laws to ever be enacted.back to text
The Worldwatch Institute, Alerts and Press Briefings - 1996.back to text
JGanzi, ibid.back to text
Ibid.back to text
The Worldwatch Institute, State of the World 1995.back to text
Ibid.back to text