Why Sustainable?

Should we do it the other way around? What if there hadn't been any oil? The last 100 years of development would've been gone. No chance of discovering fusion or the internet. Maybe the oil was a temporary heaven-sent boost. Maybe we don't have to be stable and sustainable, but unstable and evolving, like a wave rolling forward.

Really Sustainable

The most abused word of the year: sustainable. Tall glass buildings with a windmill on top: sustainable. Small fields that noone will ever plow in the middle of a city: sustainable. A rotating tower with solar cells in shadow: sustainable. It's all so fucking sustainable you start to wonder what's not.

Real sustainability requires sacrifice. Take it seriously, please. The oil will run out. No more cheap energy. Bottom line: we need to cut back on energy use. Easy things first: stop making war machines. Stop producing consumer goods. Reduce size of buildings, we have way more living area than we need.

Now the hard things: Introduce birth control. 6 billion and growing exponentially is not sustainable. Everyone needs to go vegetarian. Reuse old clothes. Introduce a law that makes picking up hitchhikers mandatory - share cars. Share computers. Make everything electronic - no books, no dvd's, no game consoles.

This might happen automatically if oil runs out and energy becomes really expensive. Or maybe war will happen.

Sustainable = Efficient. A cheap car, mass produced, spare parts available, easily repaired is more sustainable. Mass production is more sustainable. Russian-style grey clothes with grey buildings in a grey world is sustainable.