Goethe on Global Warming

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born almost 260 years ago in what would eventually become Germany  and became a brilliant philosopher.  OK, enough about him, and on with 3 quotes attributed to him as translated into English:

"Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean."

"Being brilliant is no great feat if you respect nothing."

"Mountains cannot be surmounted except by winding paths."

I just hit the delete key on a long-winded, convoluted, difficult-to-follow post about our responsibilities as people, based on the quotes above.  Instead of trying to emotionally argue in either direction, I will rely on your intellect to apply these quotes as you will to your present understanding of the facts as you know them surrounding the global warming debate.

In case you're interested though, my interpretation of the quotes is that I agree with the 1st one, and I believe that industrial society would have developed different solutions for energy provision if they were told beforehand that they had to clean up any messes that they created.  Most of the oil from the earth's crust would probably still be sitting there now if that had been the case, and we'd have a whole different set of problems in the world today (maybe less intractable, maybe more, but definitely different).

I also agree with the 2nd one:  where's the challenge in overcoming obstacles with no constraints put upon oneself?  Were the Pyramids on the Giza Plateau really that impressive when it is taken into consideration that they had unlimited man/slave power at their disposal to brute work the problem into submission?  Not to me.  Now, get those suckers built with some brilliant technology AND the requisite respect for your fellow man, and I'll be the first to stand and applaud your accomplishment!  Same sentiment applies to burning fossil fuels for power:  anyone can find something and burn it up and make heat or explosions, which creates all KINDS of pollution of every form and toxicity.  Oil and coal just happen to represent the best trade off of abundance, manageability, and power output bang for the effort.  Now, get those suckers to develop an energy supply that doesn't pollute the world and is safe, scalable, abundant, and transportable, and I will admiringly acknowledge your accomplishment.

Finally, and not surprisingly, I also agree with quote #3.  These innovations/technologies don't happen overnight, and they are not without extraordinary effort, ingenuity, and perseverance.  People need to expect to wind around slowly, up and down, switchback/backtrack every now and then, build some retaining walls and guard rails along the way, look ahead and plan for what you see as well as what you don't see but still suspect might be lurking, check with others who have built or are attempting to build similarly-purposed projects, and eventually you'll have yourself a nice, winding pass that will indeed allow anyone to get to the other side of the mountain.

 

Comments

[Shefaly]

Worth, I agree. It has a great poster too. A big red apple and it summarises all the main lessons we all need to remind ourselves every day. But then again if we managed to achieve all this, there would be no John Galt, would there?