Specialized thinking leads to ineffectual actions
Yes, we can search for a more efficient battery. Or we can stop using so much energy...
I recently read an article about batteries for electric vehicles. The article claims that lithium-sulphur batteries are more environmentally friendly than just lithium batteries. I thought this might be a good opportunity to point out that the efforts outlined in this article are part of the following phenomenon:
We have become ulstra-specialized in our thinking, because we are specialized cogs in a dysfunctional consumerist machine. This specialization results in our translating concepts that we know to good into a narrow realm, where they sound good but hardly have any real impact in a motion towards a real good.
Electric vehicles and the quest for the "most environmentally friendly battery" give us a great example because all of these batteries aren't very friendly to the environment. Lithium and sulphur still require environmentally damaging mining and fossil fuels to extract, produce, and ship.
So surprise, surprise, we have another deception of modern industrial society: it takes a concept ("environmentally friendly" in this case), and translates it into an exercise in minimization (the quest for the most environmentally friendly). Over time, we have come to equate sustainability with a minimization exercise within the industrial framework, rather than seeking out true environmentally friendly solutions!
It's all rather clever, because when it comes down to it, these minimization exercises are taking place every second. What is the end result? Our efforts do very little to become truly sustainable, the corporations get to sell more junk, and we believe that something is being done even though nothing changes beyond minor incremental improvements.
Does that mean searching for the most environmentally friendly battery is useless or that we should not pursue electric vehicles? Not necessarily. If we can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and internal combustion engines, that would be good in the short-term. But don't fool yourself that such a step is necessarily on the path to greater sustainability. All we can say for sure is that transitioning to electric vehicles provides some relief for the industrial system to keep moving and possibly be a bit more efficient, while it continues to use even more resources.
The key to this discussion is the following: if the only efforts we ever make are towards more efficient vehicles, alternative energy sources, recycling programs, wind farms, and other pseudo-solutions that never violate traditional economic growth, then we will do absolutely nothing except perhaps delay the inevitable destruction of earth. What we must do is reduce our industrial production, reduce global trade, significantly reduce energy and materials usage, and return to a greater dependence on the local land.
Sadly, many mainstream environmentalists don't like talking about such real action because it doesn't encourage people to donate to their cause and it doesn't encourage support from people addicted to Western lifestyles and endless energy usage. But we've got to truly go against the industrial system to actually make a real change towards sustainability. And to those who want to write another article about environmentally friendly batteries, please only wake me up when this chart starts going down:
