With the President of the United States admitting, boasting even, that the federal government will use its military to seize another country’s oil, I appreciated journalist and climate activist Bill McKibben on the climate / petrochemical angle on the invasion of Venezuela: Just possibly it’s the oil? I find this concept in particular to be highly compelling:
What if we could, simply by supporting an environmentally and economically sound transition to clean energy, remove the reason for the fighting? I don’t know how to stop the bully from beating people up for their lunch money—but what if lunch was free, and no one was carrying lunch money? Not for the first time, and not for the last, I’m going to make the observation that it’s going to be hard to figure out how to fight wars over sunshine.
The deeper suggestion here—that solar power technology might be inherently decentralizing, peace-promoting, dare I say anarchist—is not a new one. But it’s a good thing to think about in these days.
I first heard this idea from my brother Elias, who is currently finishing up a master’s degree in energy technology and policy. The other day, as I chewed on these ideas again, I hit him up for a reading list on the subject. He texted me back:
I don’t know about you, but I love a good syllabus. More to read!
