In my mind,
the most positive future would be one where I can live with all the same luxuries
I do today, but without environmental consequence. I think we are moving in
that direction well. People are showing an interest for the efficient stuff. We
cannot stop manufacturing, selling, spending, and consuming. We just need to
find ways to make them less damaging. Right now, in car commercials. Companies
like Toyota and Ford are competing to see who can make the most fuel-efficient
vehicle, and they are advertising that. The bragging rights have gone from, “My
car has the biggest engine…” to “my car gets the best gas mileage…” If we can
continue having this mindset, the damages will repair themselves. There is one
significant problem, the amount of natural resources it takes to manufacture
efficient stuff generally is more harmful than what the device can save. Most
fuel-efficient cars have to be shipped from Japan. Also, while the efforts
being made by the solutionaries are great, the new technology may be a bit out
of price-range for many people, there are also the people who have the
philosophy that just continuing to use the old, inefficient device is more
sustainable than getting something new. This poses a danger to capitalist
society. Capitalism is fueled by competition to make a better thing. Then
people go buy the better thing, and the cycle repeats. If people don’t take
that step to buy the better thing, capitalism falls apart, and then the efforts
to innovate become with less motive. I personally believe that it takes the
force that caused the problem to solve it, and in this case, capitalism was
that force.
My passion,
as many know, is cars. But it’s not just cars. It’s vehicles in general. I work
in the transportation industry. I run a diesel boat that burns less than 1/8 of
a cup of diesel per hour at cruising speed. I learned by running that boat,
that how it’s driven can determine how efficient it is. In stop and go traffic,
cars use more gas. For the time being, until we have renewable energy, it may
be worth it to educate the public on driving a little more efficiently. When I
had my permit, I was able to achieve 27 miles per gallon in a car that was
listed for 18, just by using a high gear and driving behind another car. People
actually have been known to make a motorsport out of this. People drive their
Priuses a certain distance and see who has the most fuel left at the end. In
the future, for me, I will strive to find ways to encourage efficient living,
while still enjoying the luxuries of capitalism.
I have never
felt hopeless about this issue. Science has proven over thousands of years the
people evolve and change when they are forced to. I am confident that with the
amount of efforts that people are making in the community right now, that there
is not doubt we will be able to make something work. We’ve done a good job
implanting the sustainable mentality in American people, so I believe that if
sustainable stuff becomes “In”, we’re all set. The change will be difficult,
and I think that people need to stop trying to force the change on immediately.
But, like I said, we are on a good path, and I am hopeful that this will lead
to my vision of a “perfect future.”
