Professor of human ecology at Lund University, Sweden Alf Hornborg painted a darker picture in The Conversation earlier this month. He claims we have “failed to curb the disastrous and increasingly globalized trajectory of economic polarization and ecological degradation”. This is due to “flawed ways of thinking about technology and economy”. Instead, he would like to get back to basics starting with doing our shopping locally.
How Shopping Locally Would Solve Problems Engineers Can’t
As much as 90% of global energy still comes from burning fossil fuels. By stark contrast, less than 1% comes from solar, and under 2% from wind. The long-anticipated transition to renewable energy is not happening. Why is this so?
Prof Hornborg says the reason is simple. Renewable energy needs a huge amount of land for wind and solar farms. However, these projects are hugely expensive, and there is little proof they are profitable in the narrow sense. They are also extremely expensive with many nations wanting faster returns in the form of jobs now. It therefore becomes clearer a renewable energy solution is not around the corner. But shopping locally could help climate now.
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Furthermore, “we don’t see that the enormous investments of capital needed for such massive infrastructure projects represent claims on resources elsewhere. Changing one technology for another is not the solution.” Changing human behavior could be says Prof Hornborg.
He would like us to start by shopping locally from providers in our own villages and towns. That way, he says we will have greater confidence in the renewable content. And moreover the goods could be cheaper after discounting the cost of transport. The U.S. transportation sector causes a third of the nation’s contribution to climate change says Center for Biological Diversity.
We could start changing this reality today, by shopping locally in our town now. Our small mustard seeds could grow into mighty trees, where birds come and rest and rejoice in clean air.
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Preview Image: Bagel Shop in Montréal
