1975: Ehrlich Slams Cheap Electricity, Modern Agriculture, Medicines, Pesticides and Cars.
Posted on January 18, 2011 by hauntingthelibrary
As noted in a previous post, there’s a lot of things Paul Ehrlich doesn’t like. Capitalism, free markets, people breeding, economic growth. Now an article by the good Doctor Ehrlich himself has been unearthed, in which he lists more things that really tick him off.
First of all, nuclear power. Not just because of the dangers, which Ehrlich says are manifold, but for a more profound reason – but because he dreads the idea of cheap, plentiful energy for the world:
We contend that the position of the nuclear promoters is preposterous beyond the wildest imaginings of most nuclear opponents, primarily because one of the purported “benefits” of nuclear power, the availability of cheap and abundant energy, is in fact a liability.
In fact, with cheap, abundant energy, the attempt would be made to pave, develop, and exploit every last bit of the planet – a trend that would inevitably lead to the collapse of the life-support systems on which civilization depends.
The Spokesman-Review, June 1975. Energy Overabundance.
When people like Ehrlich say that renewable energy can supply all the electricity we need, they envisage very, very small needs.
Ehrlich was especially annoyed at those who believed that human ingenuity, science and technology could provide solutions to the crisis. He cited some examples of technologies which had only made things worse:
Prime examples are the “green revolution” (which is contributing to the destruction of genetic diversity in crops) , the wide use of antibiotics and chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides, our dependence on the automobile for personal transportation, and not least of all, nuclear power.
The Spokesman-Review, June 1975. Energy Overabundance.
What kind of a person worries about the world having cheap and abundant energy?
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